The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3341 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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Sometimes being with Trish that I am with a superior being and other times it's like she is a teenager with all the faults inherent that go with it. I reflected upon my own teen years and I suppose I was lucky to stay sane, the pressures to conform were enormous and enforced by a father who knew no better and who seemed to be blinded by his faith, as was my mother.

How anyone can believe in this day and age baffles me but then most people are a bit dumb and seem to need a mental crutch to carry them through, if they only knew that if it gets tough no-one is coming to help them, least of all some omnipotent sky- fairy, and they have the resources they need if they only believe in themselves. We are all more capable than we think and friends and family will normally help.

Are gender-confused people extra strong? I don't know but I suspect not, we are just good actors and good at hiding things, sometimes for many years, like how we feel and what we feel. I know I hid it from my peers in university, but not as well as I thought and some guessed the right answer and some were way off beam. Murray should have referred me to the educational psychology service but didn't because he was convinced I was poof, because in his small world there were only two types of individual; straight and queers. He was very wrong as we now know, there are many types and that refers to sexual orientation and snowballs when you add gender identity to the equation. Even today we have trouble which is ridiculous. In America, it seems half the country wants to kill the other half and because we are so visible, we are an easy target for Republicans, many of whom seem to be Trump clones, and not only talk through their arse, they also think with it or seem to. Why are trans kids such an easy target - because they can't fight back, that's why. Why do generally sane people have a need to carry guns -you tell me, but I shall dismiss you answer because no ordinary person needs one most of the time, if ever. They still have a wild west mentality and may become civilised one day, but I'm not holding my breath.

We are not much better, only it applies to knives, and it seems people stab each other and ask questions later. It's stupid, but so are most young men, and with a knife, they feel safe. They are not, in fact, they are more likely to be stabbed than those of us without a weapon, the same probably applies to guns for a similar reason.

The only times I carry a knife is either when I am going to eat or my good ol' Swiss army knife. I always thought that they were only dangerous to the user, folding on them etc. but is appears you can stab someone with one and suddenly, my penknife becomes an offensive weapon. The rest of us have to suffer because one idiot used one to kill someone. I believe the story was the youth was slashing a man's tyres. He got a bit angry and rushed out with a hammer and the youth stabbed him with a SAK and the man died. Why he was slashing the tyres, I don't know, probably he didn't know, as I believe he was high on drugs or booze, which I keep away from. So, although I am not superior I am less stupid as drug use eventually will lead to one's downfall. Perhaps I should have been a preacher as I do so as seemingly default mode.

Perhaps I am just a parent who wants their children to mature without substances or weapons. I once saw the blood from a stabbing, it was awful, like a bucket of it had been spilt in the street. I later learned some young bloke had killed another who he thought was laughing at him. He wasn't, but the one who did the killing was convinced he was and did for him, the wits and inhibitions lost to booze. Again should we stop selling booze, I doubt it, because large numbers of people seem to need it to function, it's nonsense, as they can do without it, but prefer not to, demonstrating their stupidity, as it gets harder to stop as they progress down the slippery slope to dependency.

Simon still drinks too much and every so often it worries me. Do I have right to stop him? No, I don't but I do have one to say it makes me uncomfortable because it does. I don't drink much and could stop easily, others can't or don't see why they can't have a tipple, a while ago they used to get drunk as a skunk and drive home without seeing they were being stupid, now they wouldn't think of drinking and driving. One day they'll see the light and life will be more boring but safer.

George Monbiot is trying to improve the river Wye, which used to be a major salmon river, but because of the run-off from poultry farms is now eutrophic with phosphate poisoning everything and the lush vegetation is just a bit of algae and viruses, nothing else grows there. Obviously, the answer is to stop more poultry farms, so what do they do bit give permission in Powys for a big processing unit for poultry which will bring extra poultry farms to feed it. The reason being that jobs are worth it. I have news for them we have more vacancies than jobless so they won't be able to fill them, and the poisoning of the rivers is just the start of the poisoning of the system - they'll discover it when there are no more wild salmon, bloody Tories, they'd sell their granny.

The environmental lobby doesn't have the pull of money and never will so until they notice that there is no more wildlife, the people won't act. It's like people complain about air pollution until you tell them to travel by bus, they shut up then, bloody hypocrites. When it comes to doing something themselves only the young seem interested, vested interests will kill off the rest.

I took my misery into the kitchen where David was preparing salmon for the evening meal, I couldn't face him so pretended I had something to do, so I greeted him and disappeared. Farmed salmon causes all sorts of problems in the sea with pollution and pests just some of them, but we have to eat something. It would be better if we got used to main meals of pasta and legumes as they use less land but I don't think they would tolerate it for too long, they like their meat and fish too much. I must speak with David and see what we can do as we have the occasional meat-free day, we'll have to extend that to two or three days a week and meat substitutes are getting better all the time so it is a real prospect for the future and David is so good at making tasty meals, I'm sure he'll relish the challenge he usually does.

I went to my study and shut the door, now I have to work out how to get the rest of the family onboard, do I ask for their cooperation or do I work with David on the quiet? Then there's Tom, can we win him over with vegetable curries, I doubt it and I suppose he will have a point and it will be all that he's tae auld tae change. I may have to prove he isn't and perhaps involve the children in doing so. It's like mounting a campaign only harder.