The Ragged Optimist 59
Good things going on
There’s a cafe in Margate that went bust a while ago. Over the last couple of days, workmen have been clearing the place out, and letting people take whatever they want - hundreds of plates, boxes of cutlery, chopping boards, bags of bottles of booze, kitchen scales and shelving units, glasses by the hundred - all collected and rehomed, and put to good use. It’s clear the cafe had no plan for what they were buying, and had acquired more stuff than they could ever use. I saved plates and bowls for my new home, some beautiful old books that had been part of the decor, a first aid box and a fire blanket, some bits of studio pottery, and a dozen mugs for the studio.
It’s struck me that there’s a whole Margate story and spirit here - the madness of a business that was opened with good intention, but not by people with any business sense - and the community turning out to take what was useful.
There’s a good local story that all the marble fireplaces in Georgian houses locally, owe their beautiful stone to the Roman remains at nearby Richborough. It seems plausible. Less veni, vidi, vici - more reduce, reuse, recycle.
As always - please like this post (just so I know you’re there), and share with any friends who might need a bit of hope and optimism.
These little libraries, built for children in Indonesia, are inspiring spaces.
HIV's ability to conceal itself inside white blood cells has been one of the main challenges for scientists looking for a cure. It means there is HIV in the body, capable of reactivation, that neither the immune system nor drugs can tackle. But a new treatment - using techniques from COVID vaccines - makes HIV visible.
Grosvenor Square in Mayfair is to be redesigned to be more wild. The revamp of the area will be paid for by the Duke of Westminster and his family, who owns the square. They will create new woodland plantings beneath the London plane trees - but will also replace grass with wildflowers, which is great for wildlife but will reduce the areas where people can sit and children play.
Remember The Stena Immaculate, collided with another ship off the coast of East Yorkshire in March, causing a massive fire?.The Immaculate was later towed into Great Yarmouth for repairs, and all the meat from their freezers has been donated to a local foodbank.
Two beavers who were moved from Scotland to Norfolk four years ago have improved the water quality where they are living. "Dam by dam almost, the water quality has improved, which is incredible, so they reduce agricultural pollutants [and] they reduce the sediment loads coming in from fields and from roads as well.”
One of the UK’s largest ever rewilding projects is set to transform 330 acres of farmland in the South Downs National Park. Halnaker Hill Farm, near Chichester, will be transformed with hedgerows, grassland, woodland, ponds, wildflower meadows, more than 20,000 trees, and the reintroduction of Sussex cattle and sheep. It is designed to support developers in meeting the requirements of the Environment Act 2021, which mandates a minimum 10% biodiversity net gain at development sites and allows them to buy sites elsewhere when they don’t want to do that.
Rewilding Ukraine have launched Nature for Veterans. This will see groups of veterans brought to the Ukrainian part of the rewilded Danube Delta, where rewilding efforts continue to have a positive impact, despite the ongoing war. By immersing them in resurgent nature, the aim is to help them with their own personal recovery.
Kelp are flat-bladed, large brown seaweeds that often grow in dense beds, creating some of the most biodiverse marine environments on the planet. Kelp can be thought of as 'marine trees' anchored to the seabed that create a 'canopy' under which many species take shelter and find food. They’re also great at carbon capture. Efforts to restore the Sussex Bay kelp beds are proving successful.
Dane Valley Woods, an important green oasis nestled between a large housing estate and a railway line here in Margate, has officially been designated as a Local Wildlife Site.
'There is no future that can't be designed/with some imagination and a beautiful mind' - Garbage reckon there's No Future In Optimism. Great music from them, Suede, Pulp, and Stereolab lately - good times.
enjoyed that - and the links. Hope the Grosvenor Square rewild does include enough space for children to play...now have Cat Stevens in my head "where do the children play"
Great post...especially the café item. The builders could so easily have thrown it all i the skip