The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3009 by Angharad Copyright© 2016 Angharad

---

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.
*****

One of the emails I checked was from Dan, the manager of the nature reserve who asked me if I’d seen the article in Nature, a comment piece mainly by a professor from Queensland in Australia, called, ‘The Ravages of Guns, Nets and Bulldozers’. In it the authors suggest that while, quite rightly, attention should be focused on loss of biodiversity through climate change, over 8000 species were at risk from over exploitation, farming, hunting and continuing loss of habitat due to human need for housing, roads or agriculture and which at the current rate of progress will have more direct effect than pure global temperature rise on its own. Put the two together and we are going to lose huge numbers of animals and plants through extinction. A major cause of this is overpopulation and human greed.

I’ve said before that human beings are probably the most disastrous stage natural selection has ever made, who in small numbers were innocuous but once they became established and developed technology became dangerous to every other species on the planet. We still are. In fact we are destroying the planet or the biodiversity on it by elevating global warming as well as other more direct forms of destruction such as logging and deforestation then have the gall to suggest the temperature of the earth hasn’t risen since 1998. It has and temperatures of the oceans are rising at an alarming rate. July 2016 is the warmest month on record globally.

I saw the article was mentioned in the Guardian as well.

Returning to collect the children who were chatting with Sally, I overheard Danielle describing her bikini and saying that I would probably make her wear her other one if we went to the beach. As I didn’t see her wearing the one we bought, I began to wonder if I should have insisted on it like I did with the younger ones. It would probably have given rise to teenage tantrum number three, so in the interests of world peace, I said nothing and decided whatever it looked like, providing she only wears it around the villa and the pool, I won’t say anything negative—I hope.

Goodness, I must appear to be like a nineteenth century puritan. These days kids are allowed to do exactly what they want. It seems the current trend is to let them do dangerous things and when they come to grief as they will, you sue whoever you can possibly blame but yourself. What’s crazy is the law often seems to back them. That it becomes obvious to common sense, that if you climb trees you are at risk of falling off or out of them, in which case you sue the owner of the tree because they should have stopped you climbing them. Why doesn’t the law embrace self responsibility. Most of the misfortunes we suffer are self inflicted, often because we didn’t listen to advice based upon the personal experiences of others.

As the adage says, ‘good advice is often offered but rarely taken.’

I wonder which is worse, allowing children to run roughshod over everything and everybody or letting them waste away in front of computer or smart phone screens, when the latest research tends to suggest they need five or six times the exercise previously recommended, in fact we all do if we are to avoid heart disease, diabetes, obesity and so on.

Sounds like everyone except perhaps Danielle needs to do more running about. If it wasn’t quite so dangerous, I’d love to see the girls cycling to school. It’s probably just a little too far to walk in a reasonable time but it may not be impossible, whereas the traffic congestion is getting worse on a daily basis. If there’s something special going on, then the traffic is ridiculous, given Portsmouth is an island, there’s nowhere really for traffic to go.

If life is to become better, we need to reduce the numbers of cars by half, especially in towns and cities, encourage children to cycle or walk to school and disincentivise the use of cars wherever possible. To do so will probably need an attachment of guilt or shame so that driving anywhere in a town is a non-U activity. It won’t happen but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong or a bad idea but because we are all so lazy and politicians are all scaredy cats. First though we need to improve public transport and make walking and cycling safer.

People in rural areas often have no choice but to drive everywhere as buses are either rare objects or extinct. It shouldn’t preclude cycling as an alternative but once distance appears, people seem to stop cycling.

I took the children back home and they all went to show whoever was at home their new swimsuits. I nudged Danni and we went off to change and take the bikes out. Once we were out of the drive we cycled straight to the convent. About two and half miles. Even in the holiday season traffic, it only took us fifteen minutes which today might well have been quicker than the car. However, it was too dangerous for young riders and even if those down to Meems could cycle, I’d still have to take Cate and eventually Lizzie by car for a number of years, they’re too small to ride.

Tom arrived home followed by Simon and Sammi who said the new passport should arrive within six working days. Our holiday was due to start in five. I thanked her and she went up to change before we served dinner. David had braised some steak, which was delicious and fell apart as you ate it. He said it had been in the slow oven of the Aga for the past day and a half.

Braising shouldn’t be beyond the wit of anyone but at times it appears to be so. Are many of the youngsters not taught how to cook inexpensive but nutritious food? The problem with cheaper cuts of meat is sometimes the meat is chewy unless cooked for long enough. But throw in some onion, carrot and garlic and the flavour is one to savour except you know people won’t do it because they can pop to MacDonalds and grab a burger almost any time of the day or night and there’s no washing up if you chuck the wrappers out of the car window. We sat behind one such imagination all the way home, a smallish, elderly man obviously tending to suggest he would be better off walking, except he didn’t and we all lived in hope that his sloth would be the death of him but more quickly than usual. He trundled along at ridiculously low speeds probably never had an accident in his life but had probably caused dozens through impatient drivers wanting to overtake.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/10/agricult...