The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3273 by Angharad Copyright© 2021 Angharad

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This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
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My written application to Edinburgh mysteriously got lost on the computer and the paper one somehow fell into the shredder. I decided it was too much to ask the children to move and I couldn't leave Tom to his own devices and he wouldn't have moved with us. Edinburgh is a lovely city but only for the occasional visit, it rains too much for one thing and the property is very expensive and what honestly determined my decision was, there are no dormice in Scotland. How could I live without dormice?

We kept the films Livvie helped me make, though whether they'd ever see the light of day again was doubtful unless she wanted to use them as part of a portfolio if she ever wanted to study photography or cinematography, although people are making films on their smartphones these days, though how much training they have in the art of film making may be very variable. I expect those who do so and make credible films know what they're doing.

The girls were doing online schooling with the convent and I believe they were doing quite well as they all know how their way around a laptop or iPad helped by lessons from Trish and occasionally from Sammi. If they're having a problem, she gets onto Zoom and they can see each other and she shows them what to do, or she takes over their computer and explains what she is doing while she does it. She's still locked into her flat and has everything sent to her, including having a dedicated line to the bank. If they have some sort of crisis at the bank, they'll have to send someone to guard her flat while she's out. The break-in upset her quite badly, which I understand, but we've been broken into so many times by idiots like Leon and organised crime like the mafioski neither of whom were at all subtle. Mind you, the Hollywood versions of gentlemen cracksmiths are more crackpot than cracksmith. Probably the only ones who could visit your house, search it and leave without you ever finding out are the security services and that's only if they're heavily surveilling you and don't wish you to know. Otherwise, they just tear the place apart to cheer you up before they arrest you.

We've had MI5 here several times over the years and the police are here so often I do wonder about having a separate entrance for them with a blue light hanging above it, although most of them are too young or too thick (or both) to appreciate its relevance. Old British police stations used to display a blue light outside their entrances but no longer; then, I only know it myself because Tom told me, even Henry might be old enough to have seen one. There was also a film from 1950 called, The Blue Lamp which spun off as Dixon of Dock Green and ran for most of the fifties and sixties, so my researches told me, long before my time.

Once lockdown is over I must go and see Sammie and the way the vaccination programme is being carried out, there might eventually be an end to this nightmare, though when I'll get one might have to wait for quite some time or be available privately. I did see an article in the i newspaper which suggested up to 40% of the population are suspicious of both the lockdown and the vaccine, preferring to believe conspiracy myths or questioning the need for either. I can think of a hundred thousand reasons in the UK alone.

People have a right to ask questions of authority and perhaps to disbelieve the answers, we all know governments are all guilty of hiding things they'd prefer us not to see, but those who disbelieve in vaccination are wrong and Covid kills, is it one or two million now worldwide.

Having suggested we should believe governments, on most issues they are probably telling the truth, but only because there are instruments which demand they do so, despite the efforts of various leaders to try and remove them, including the blond-headed dimwit currently occupying a certain house in London. I am told populist governments frequently try to ignore democracy or stir up confusion and division, which as we all know, worked very well for the Nazis, though there are people who try to deny the history and character of the Third Reich. It also happens where democracy isn't properly installed such as Russia and China where the government presents its own version of the truth and isn't believed by anyone. So totalitarian governments are not renown for honesty either nor their tolerance of dissenters.

The other problem is which end of a snarling dog wagging its tail do you believe? In the UK, the government is supposed to care so much about us that they've spent billions on vaccines, are supposedly inviting thousands of Hong Kong Chinese to migrate here yet they are trying to encourage EU citizens, who may have lived here for forty years, to leave and pay them to go. The Home Office needs urgent reform and its current head sacking, but then that's only my opinion and what do I know, anyone would think I was a professor or something.

"Mummy?" called Trish as she strolled into my study, I was working from home that day, "when are you going to Edinburgh?"

"Who said I was going to Edinburgh?"

"I overheard you telling Gramps about it and Livvie was helping you make some films for it."

"Why do you want to know?"

"Just wondered, I've never been to Edinburgh and wanted to know if you'd be staying at the castle."

"I doubt it, that would be a bit of trek every day each way."

"Would we all have to move?"

"No, because I'm not going."

"You're not going to be a professor up there?"

"No."

"Oh good, can I tell the others?"

"If you want to." She ran off and moments later the younger girls were hugging me and crying, they had been afraid I would either leave them or they'd have to go with me and they'd miss their Gramps and their friends.

"Twish and Wivvie told us you were going to live in Scotland," sobbed Mima, which set off Catherine.

"You sillies, do you honestly think I'd have just gone off to Edinburgh without discussing it with you all first?"

Meems looked a little uncertain before she answered, "No, Mummy."

"Well then, I only wanted to look at what their job was like compared to my own and I think I prefer my one."

"What about the films we made, Mummy?" asked Livvie.

"I've never made a presentation film before and wondered what that would be like to do and I thought you'd be interested. It may also be very useful if the virus makes us teach more online in the future."

"Could I make films for the university, Mummy?" Livvie looked and sounded quite excited.

"I don't know, sweetheart, I'm not sure if we'll make any yet or if we have to get certain people to make them for us."

She groaned and went off muttering, "S'not fair." I hated to tell her things don't improve with age and I frequently consider things to be unfair but there is nothing I can do about it despite the relatively privileged position I now occupy. It's something of a fact of life plus one's own natural biases.

Eventually, they all went back to their online tuition and their computers and I began to think did I really want to continue as I was, but only regarding my job, or was I happy with it? I daydreamed for several minutes and I wasn't sure if I reached a conclusion or not, but I didn't see myself being there in many years' time, I'd be bored and want to do something hands-on such as running my own research project on mammal ecology, where I did the practical work as well as analyse it. Tom would tell me I was stupid and it was why I had students and other minions to do the groundwork while I sat in the middle and soaked up the data they generated, he'd probably remind me that it was exactly what Darwin did, running teams of data collectors for him, which is only partly true.

Charles Darwin did have people all around the world sending him data or specimens for research he was doing but he was also a very hands-on scientist doing all sorts of experiments to try and answer his questions, he bred orchids and pigeons to see what happened when you crossed this with that. Had he had access to what we know about genetics today, who knows where he'd have gone with it or whether he'd have stuck to his geology? After all, if he was brought up today, he'd have been very different because times are so different. I just look at my early years and compare them to my children to remind myself how quickly things can change in the environment and society. It's quite a sobering observation and the only constant is change.