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Gilroy Nature Reserve in West Kirby, Wirral.

I'm just back from walking my dogs.  The pond in Gilroy Nature Reserve is almost free of ice now, and the trees were full of green finches, blue tits and sparrows.  The few remaining dry leaves rattled with the chilly breeze passing over them.  A heron took to the air, leaving its perch seen here in this photo.  More photos of Gilroy Nature Reserve:  http://hubpages.com/hub/Gilroy-Nature-Park

The Angel's Game

Closing my copy of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Angel's Game , I was left wondering exactly what had happened at the end.  While I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and greatly admired the fluid, descriptive prose, I was left feeling as if I'd overlooked some vital details which would explain the final threads of the plot.  If the main character's alibi couldn't be verified, why did the police officer help him to escape legal custody?  Who was Andreas Corelli; a scoundrel, an angel or a figment of David's (the main character) imagination?  Why was David drawn into the 'game' anyway?  Did Andreas really bestow immortality upon David, or was this some mad illusion caused by the brain tumour which Andreas had supposedly cured?  David, after all, was described latterly as wearing the angel pin on his lapel, just as Andreas had, and letters allegedly from Andreas were shown to have been written in David's hand. This aside, it was a highly pleasurable r

Humans 400,000 Years Ago?

"A handful of ancient human remains from Israel... could rewrite the history of human evolution... The teeth cannot be conclusively identified as belonging to a particular species of human, whether Homo sapiens — the first modern humans — Neanderthals, or other humans. The press release... state(s) that the teeth are evidence that Homo sapiens lived in the Levant as early as 400,000 years ago. This contrasts with the prevailing view of human evolution, which suggests that Homo sapiens arose in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago." Source: http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101231/full/news.2010.700.html