New year, new beginning, extraordinary things that always attract your attention and make life interesting. While you guys in the beautiful sunshine countries have lots of time and opportunity for all your outdoor things, we must scram so that we can get out a bit if there is the slightest sign of a dim sun. Indeed, we get time to read in the winter and there is always the unusual little news snippet that catches the eye. This is definitely a good version of the type of community in which one finds yourself.

Morris dancing is an age-old English folk dance which dates back in traditions that can be traced back to the 15^th century. The dancers, dressed in coats or tatter-coats, usually have bells on their legs over the shins, and they dance with swords or sticks while the orchestra hammers out music on concertinas, violins and tambourines. Their faces are painted black and according to legend it has something to do with a reference to a possible Moorish origin or to miners or chimney sweepers. A group of the Morris dancers were threatened and scolded as racists when they performed in Birmingham recently. Some of the aggressive spectators even knocked off the hats of some of the dancers and the poor old men tried in vain to explain that there is no race connotation in their actions. David Cameron was also criticized when he appeared in a photo along with the Morris dancers with black faces in 2014.

Here is a good tip if you perhaps want to come and camp in England in the summer: It is now possible to sleep over in certain churches that are managed by the Churches Conservation Trust. Last year 650 ‘champers’, as they are called, made use of this. The beautiful old buildings are situated in the counties of Warwickshire, Norfolk and Northamptonshire.

Annabelle Blackham, from Active Outdoorsy, describes it as a poignant and utterly calm experience, with the moonlight shining through the big windows that made her think of all the things that have happened to people inside these walls for hundreds of years. There is of course no central heating or showers in the massive old buildings, but at least they have basic toilet facilities. They are expecting a further four churches to become part of the scheme this year, including the one in Billesley, where Shakespeare is rumoured to have married Anne Hathaway. The most beautiful church is St Michael the Archangel’s Church in Booton, Norfolk. The season starts at the end of March and lasts until end September.

Unfortunately, there is no off-season for poachers; it is only the targets that differ in the different areas. In Africa it is the poaching of rhino horns and elephant tusks that causes concern, but here it is the eggs of the peregrine falcon that lure poachers. This small falcon is the fastest bird in the air and can reach up to 389 km/h in a diving lunge. The eggs are much sought after, especially in the Middle East, and the Arabian falcon enthusiasts are willing to pay $6 000 for one egg. The most notorious falcon egg poacher here is Jeffrey Lendrum, who in previous years served in the Rhodesian SAS. He uses his military background to reach the nests, and previously lowered himself from helicopters and abseiled down cliffs to obtain the sought-after eggs. He kicked off his criminal career in Zimbabwe in 1984 when he was charged and thereafter arrested in Canada, Wales, England and most recently in Sao Paulo in Brazil where he was caught with albino falcon eggs he obtained in Chile.

I remember very clearly how we held pedal car races at Tuks’s main campus back in the day. There was big competition between the teams of the hostels. But close to us here in Sutton Valence, where the Afrikaans church mass takes place once a month, there is a regular pram race in aid of charity, that has been going on for 37 years. The competitors, all dressed brightly, must complete two laps around the village, and even down a couple of pints of beer at the pubs along the route. There is a steep slope and with modern technology the prams started to roll downhill much faster, with some reaching up to 40 km/h. This has now led to a tragedy with the death of Titch, as he was known, due to head injuries. Titch was dressed in the outfit of a World War II pilot, with goggles and a leather helmet. It is surely not always easy to get the perfect balance between tradition, safety regulations and modern technology.

We received warnings of possible snow storms in January, but when I chatted to my friend in Kiev, Ukraine, and he told me how his dogs play in the snow in temperatures of -20 °C, I once again realised that the English climate is not that bad.

Pieter de Lange