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(aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2887 by Angharad Copyright© 2016 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.
“So there you have it, Batesian Mimicry is harmless species mimicking a noxious one, whereas Mullerian mimicry is different noxious species adopting similar appearance to warn off predators who it is expected will have learned the hard way to avoid the bright colours on display, the use of warning colours being called aposematism. In the old days it was thought that the viceroy butterfly was mimicking the noxious monarch butterfly and thus was always given as an example of Batesian mimicry until it was discovered that the viceroy was equally unpalatable so in actual fact it’s Mullerian mimicry.
“Warning colours are not just related to being unpalatable or poisonous, it’s thought that the black and white stripes on the face of badgers are there to warm some would be predators or attackers that they do so at their own peril, the badger being possessed of a very powerful pair of jaws which I am told could bite the face off a dog stupid enough to mix it with one. Again, I’m told that most dogs keep well clear of them unless they’ve been taught to attack them by people who indulge in illegal and very cruel blood sports such as badger digging or baiting.
“So some forms of mimicry could be seen as camouflage, disguising yourself as something else, yes Mr Jones, we’ve all heard the one about how you bought some camouflage trousers but can’t find them. Right let’s have some examples of camouflage...”
I don’t know if I was just tired but this session seemed to go on forever, and getting ideas from them was like pulling teeth. Was it always this hard?
After dealing with questions one or two proving that some of my audience had stayed awake at least part of the time. I was gasping for a cuppa when I got back to the office only to find Diane wasn’t there so I had to make my own. Bloody women, you can’t depend upon them at all unlike us wom—doh! I laughed at my own joke and settled down to deal with the accumulating paperwork. On the top was a note saying—‘Had to take something to post office will bring you back a jacket spud from the sandwich bar. Diane.’ This buoyed me up no end and I hoped she knew about my addiction to tuna. If she brings me back some obnoxious filled one she can eat it.
She breezed in some half an hour later and dumped a tuna jacket potato complete with plastic cutlery in the cardboard box on my desk. I asked how much I owed her and she replied that it was her treat. That was sure to make it taste better than ever. It was good too. The potato was fluffy and the skin crunchy and it went down a treat. In return I made the teas and we talked through the correspondence as we drank them. Her experience in working at UWE in Bristol really helped, she could frequently deal with letters without my need to see them at all, which was somewhere between ten and twenty percent of my mailbag. She even got a copy of my signature loaded onto the computer so she could ‘sign’ my letters.
Between us we made short work of most of the paperwork, one or two things needed some research but the vast majority were straightforward. The day was drifting nicely towards the weekend when the phone rang and I answered it.
“Lady Cameron, I believe the child’s mother is looking to move to regain custody and control of her. I’ve got a slot with a judge this afternoon at three, could you make it and bring Hannah with you. She will need to know she has to say she wants to stay with you if it’s what she wants to do. See you at the courts at five to three.” Mr Henstridge rang off.
I called David, Amanda was off duty, and asked if he could collect the rest of the brood as I had to take Hannah to see someone. He said he could. I then rang the school and told them I needed to take Hannah out an hour early and my chef would be coming to collect the other girls. I then sent a text to the others saying David would collect them and I’d explain later.
At quarter past two I collected Hannah and we set off to the courts. Henstridge had asked for someone from social services to be present as they knew the mother and also the case for granting custody to me. It was curious that since my interview with the Director, the social service staff had been much more accommodating.
“You understand where we’re going, don’t you?” I asked Hannah.
“Yes, to see a judge so you have legal custody of me.”
“Exactly. He will probably ask you if you want me to have legal custody as your guardian and foster mother. If you want that to happen you’ll have to say yes, if you don’t—well that’s up to you but it could end up with you being returned to Ingrid or a children’s home if the court decides so.”
“Why the children’s home?”
“Well if you say you don’t want to stay with me they’ll probably move you somewhere else.”
“You trying to frighten me, Mummy?”
“No just trying to point out consequences.”
“But you know I want to stay with you, like forever.”
“I know, sweetheart, but the courts won’t. We’re doing this in a hurry because we fear Ingrid might try to regain custody of you.”
“She won’t will she?”
Her phone peeped and she looked at it, “It’s her, she’s saying not to agree to anything until I speak with her.”
“That’s up to you. Do you want to live with her again?”
“No fear, she’s crazy.”
“Personally, I don’t think she or her lifestyle are suited to having children around them, even her own children, which was why I offered you a home.”
“I’m so glad you did, I love you all and I love having my sisters and going to the same school as them—I think it’s awesome.”
God I hate when that word is used inappropriately but these days it’s like everything else cheapened by over and inappropriate usage. I know words change but except in legal documents and scientific papers, English, probably the most subtle and precise language ever developed, is abused tremendously every day partly by those whose education is lacking and partly by those who don’t care, possibly both. Also the contamination by American English through popular culture doesn’t help. “How are you?” “I’m good, thanks.” An adjective supplanting an adverb—it’s so annoying.
“You okay, Mummy?”
“Sorry, kiddo, just thinking about a meeting I had this morning. Right here we are, let’s go and see the judge and get this over.”
Inside Rushton Henstridge came rushing to meet us. “Glad you made it, this is Mrs Barton from social services.” We nodded at each other.
“Might I speak quickly with Hannah?” asked Mrs Barton.
“I hope you’re going to support my petition?”
“Once I’ve spoken to Hannah.”
“You’re not going to take me away.”
“No of course not, look, let’s sit here where Lady Cameron can still see us and have a quick chat.” They walked away to the two chairs and I watched all the time, Hannah looked terrified but about three or four minutes later they returned and the social worker nodded to me. I hoped that was a good sign.
“Which judge are we seeing?” I asked Henstridge.
“Mr Justice Kenyon,” and my heart lifted a little then I thought, should have brought Trish as my negotiator.
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Comments
English usage.
I share Cathy's despair. 'Less' instead of 'fewer' is bad but using 'disinterested' when what is meant is 'uninterested' is particularly annoying because it totally changes the meaning. People who are disinterested often have a great interest but are independent of the effects.
And of course, it has been said that to do good you first need to do well.
Robi
Use of English
One of the first expressions of a child’s individuality is a their choice of words. Along with that comes choice of food and clothes. Being on the receiving end can mean losing a bright expressive child to be presented instead with a grunting, shabby, shuffler that insists on trying to live on McD’s.
I wonder if Hannah has learnt from Trish the dark art of judge handling?
Rhona McCloud
And as for :
'Get OFF OF your horse pilgrim! Well even John Wayne didn't say that!
Furthermore it would be both technically and grammatically impossible to fall OFF OF a Bike!!!!
Don't forget the best US English of all, for a college remember,
"A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste".
Trish has Judge Kenyon wrapped around her little finger.
Karen
Thank you,Angharad,
I also wonder about the media types who are so fond of using the word Icon when they obviously have no idea what
an Icon really is ,intriguing !!
ALISON
I am really looking forward to this interview,
I just hope something doesn't jinx the works. I could be wrong but is seems the law is a fickle thing sometimes.
Language BS
The speech called english was created by the Tudor group, enforced at blade-point in the tower of babble... the purpose was to make human speech be the direct opposite of the sound groups that are matched to intent.
The gambit as well as DNA manipulations was designed to REMOVE as much ability as was given by Gaia in the days of the beginning, and her making of the human race..
I am SICK TO DEATH of the english language NAZI types and their yammering over keeping this form of self-imposed mental SLAVERY !
But hey.. it's all coming out into the light now.. and you who are in on it, as well as who have been SO well PROGRAMMED will need to just STOP !
Sorry for the rant. I love the story, but at times the content sets my trigger off.
These facts and many others are recorded for all time in the holographic "chamber of the ancients" where all of earth history is recorded since day 0.
http://www.hiddenfromhumanity.com/bucegi-mountain-secrets/bu...
I can't wait to hear what the
I can't wait to hear what the judge has to say about Trish not being there, I hope Henstridge is ready for his joke.
I still feel that there might be something that will happen regarding social services. The bad seed might have been revoked but you never know how much hatred she could have sown in the agency. Hopefully with Hannah being the most normal of all of the Cameron youngsters the whole TG issue will be ignored and she actually listens to what Hannah says and takes the blatant negligence and abuse into account in her support or lack of support.
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
I believe it was Winston Churchill who said.....
"Americans and British are one people separated only by a common language."
We have enough trouble understanding each other over here, let alone trying to understand our cousins on the east side of the pond.
What many people simply don't understand is that there is no official language in the United States, even though there have been multiple attempts to have English declared so. It has simply been the accepted common tongue since prior to the creation of this great country.
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Shedding More Light on that Churchillian Remark, I Hope
Winston Churchill would or should have known more about American and British English than most of us - he was half American, as his Mother was from the "Revolting Colonials" as my Great Grandmother still called them. She died during WW2 at a very great age, but the colonies in N America revolting against stupid and unfair taxation by a British Government about as useless as the one we have to put up with now, deserved, and all that happened before she was born, according to the History Books. Not that I read them that much, I disliked History at school, and I disliked the Teacher of this subject, and I dropped it after passing it at O-Level, with an Answer Paper that I wrote a quotation from George Bernard Shaw at the top of -
"The only thing that people learn from the study of history is that people learn nothing at all from the study of history!"
When I was first sent over to Sweden to work at my Company HQ, having caused enough trouble already in the UK Subsidiary (something called "being kicked upstairs" I think), I became friends with a Swiss Lady married to a Norwegian, who had learned her English from an American teacher. We spent many an evening comparing definitions (and spelling!) of words according to her "Webster's Dictionary of the American Language" and my "Oxford English Dictionary" It was a nice change from learning Svenska.
The differences were pretty big - about the same degree as that between Svenska and Norsk. The 2 Scandinavian peoples sort of understood each others' talking but often found the other one funny and about 20% of the time they just did not understand what was being said. Just a tiny bit more and one would have to admit that American was not English. That is from reading their books, but if you take in accents and how people actually speak, it is worse. However, in the last 2 decades I notice a trend for accents to fade, as media like Satellite TV, Radio and the Internet is rendering the World a smaller place.
English has become the World Language since WW2, I think mainly because we have more than one word for every object, every quality, and every action, and at the same time nearly every word has at least 2 and often more totally different meanings. The result of this is, that people from six different countries with each its own language, can meet and discuss something for a week, in English, and they can reach agreement on most matters discussed, but they all go home with a totally different impression about what exactly has been agreed ! Thus it is ideal for International matters, for Diplomats and even politicians. :)
Another thing is that English has gobbled up words from so many other languages and adopted them as its own. There are several Million words in English now already, more than in any other language in the World. We have also made it a bit easier to learn than most other languages have, for example with "Basic English", which uses a very limited list of words but with which the non-native English speaker can mostly get by. Some other languages, like German for example, is proudly presented by those whose language it is as "A Difficult Language" They have too much Grammar, and although they have 3 genders, each having its own word for "the", the natural gender of an object or person seldom co-insides with the gender of the person or object, e.g. das Maedschen (ae is really an a with 2 dots above it, an 'Umlaut', but on a computer programmed using British English it is impossible to produce that without some added sub-programmes which I don't have.)
English has many opportunities for making jokes based on words, like PUNS for example. Only Hungarian comes anywhere near English for making jokes. In German they do not have many such possibilities, and if one tries to make puns or other jokes using word mix-ups, they don't find them funny, just wrong. I took 3 months living there before I dared to make a successful joke based on word play. Learning Swedish only took me 1 month. Norsk is even easier. One thing in which German IS easier than English is in how words are spelt is always how they are spoken. English is really puzzling for those learning it in that respect. French is more difficult than English for comparing what is written to what is spoken. Gaelic is even worse than French.
Scandinavian languages have a few more letters in their alphabets than English does. Polish has 2 'L's, one with an oblique line crossing it, and that has the sound of a 'W' in English. In Welsh of course a 'W' is a vowel, making the sound 'oo' as in cool.
My apologies to experts in languages who may correct any mistakes I have made here - I was never a student of languages, I merely worked in all these countries and several more, so had to learn enough to get by. I studied Biology and worked in medical research.
Briar
Some interesting language points here
First and foremost, let us all be quite clear about one thing. It matters not at all which language you take, it has ONE purpose and one purpose only. And that is to enable communication - VERBAL communication. The very word 'language' has its roots in the word for 'tongue'.
It was only much later that written forms were developed to enable WRITTEN communication.
And sometimes the written form is different to the spoken form. (Here in Switzerland where they speak (a) form(s) of German, they even refer to the written form as a different language! You might have Bernese German, or Basel German or Zuerich German as the spoken forms, but they all call the words they read in their newspaper 'Script German'!)
Back to the wider world of linguistics, it has become apparent that many speakers of whichever language are uninterested in providing any clear communication and prefer to just babble. All this achieves is unclear communications, open to misunderstandings and confusion.
And some people rant about the others who attempt to provide clear and unambiguous communications.
All of us have at sometime used a telephone, and I dare say a large number of us have had interrupted conversations on that instrument. It can be VERY frustrating that a call is complicated by interference of some sort.
To me, I get very frustrated when the written form of whichever language I am reading in is misused, creating a similar interference to my reading.
Why I should receive the appellation of a National Socialist for mentioning my displeasure is beyond me. If someone chooses to communicate with me in, say, the English Written Language then why is it so wrong to ask them to do so without 'interference'?
But apparently it is offensive to ask these writers to simply take one extra step before posting and get their output passed through a competent editor. Oh no! This is calling into question their abilities as an author, it would appear.
Personally, I take pride in providing as polished a work as I can.
Amen (which means 'So be it')
I though it was the mother superior said
when two blokes walked into the convent, "Ah men."
Angharad