The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3381 by Angharad Copyright© 2023 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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After my exertions in London, the next day was a quiet one and I didn't try to beat anyone up or shoot them. They didn't know who we were, the bad guys and the two MI5 operatives said there was no one there when they attended, obviously, one gang had trounced another. Funnily, although they all went to trial, none split on us. Of course, on the way out of his office, we did remind them that they were alive, next time we had to come, they wouldn't be. They took the hint.

I wasn't sure if they would but so far I haven't heard anymore as part of MI5 looks for the mysterious attackers while the other half look at the list of bent coppers on the pay role and how much they had received. I felt sorry for them in prison but they should have stayed honest and then they would collect their pensions instead of having it confiscated to pay their victims, of all sorts of scams including protection, handling stolen or counterfeit goods, prostitution, which I personally hated, and of course good old drug supply. In all nearly a hundred people appeared on Smith's pay and his records were meticulous they even named who had attacked Dawn and how much he had paid them. Attempted murder meant they would go down for a long time.

What else happened that week, oh yes, anyone who had a male puberty and was transgender could no longer play women's sport or athletics. I suppose that would be tough if you were a professional athlete before transitioning, but wouldn't affect most male to female trans people. Of course, all but Julie and Sam were in transition before puberty, the likes of Danny and Trish could play women's sport, well, we knew that because of all the fuss we had with Danni, who was playing with Bournemouth ladies team, and who had decided her international career was over and she no longer wanted to play for the 'Lionesses' as they call the England ladies team, and who were very good, even without our football genius, with her they'd have been almost unbeatable.

I did try to tempt her to keep her options open but she just wanted to concentrate on her studies and with a little friendly rivalry and help from Sarah, they were both coming on fine and would certainly complete the first year on a high. Unfortunately, those awful university types make it harder the next year, but they looked okay for that too. Trish of course, was on course to be the top of her class and if she kept up her interest in the subject, was like to get a first. Sometimes she gets bored and I warned the Prof of Physics to be aware of it. Thankfully, he just threw her some stuff that no one else in the first year could do, she did and he started giving her third year stuff to keep her busy. The was also getting harder to handle at home and it is quite frightening that if she really knew her potential, she'd be even worse. Daddy, was the only one who could match her most of the time unless Sammi came home for the weekend.

Of the others, Hannah had really settled in with the others and Livvie took her under her wing, Cat and Lizzie were growing up too, Cate was in school and Lizzie, the nursery and ready for school next year. For the moment the bank is thriving and posting better profits each year, the only problem is most of it comes from ordinary people or the investment bank. Simon has been allowed to take some part in the latter, having served his time and he helped drive up the profits with some canny investments. He also drove up our personal wealth with the same investments and they day he did it, he told me quietly, I would never need to work again as my personal pension pot was over a million and the bank held two million in shares and bonds in my name. When he was on form, Simon was a mean investor.

The thought of never needing to work again was interesting, my job was rewarding and paid well for a woman, remember it's still a man's world out there and we earn about 60 % of what they earn, even some jobs in the public sector pay men more, but they are being closed down. If I didn't work, apart from feeling lost, once I'd dealt with that, and the girls were a bit older, I'd think about doing some personal research projects both to educate myself and also to find some pet projects and not necessarily on dormice, although I couldn't rule it out, but maybe I'd try some insects this time, the more I learn about them the more respect I feel we should have for them. Bees, possibly have some form of self-awareness, which if true, lifts them up to the same level as birds and simple mammals. Bumble bees have been seen playing with wooden balls and as the activity wasn't for a reward, they seemed to be playing with them. Play is something we expect in higher mammals and birds. With our customary stupidity, we assume insects like bees, because they don't live very long (about 6 weeks) are pretty stupid, yet we have known for fifty years they pass on information to each other with their dance, and it's in the dark and vertical, yet they realise what it means. We also know that they can create maps inside them of the area around a nest or hive. So they are really clever insects.

Some of the aquatic insects are quite sophisticated as well, their antennae full of sense organs that detect all sorts of vibrations and chemicals, we know that several such as stoneflies, make noises to attract mates, as well as the well-known use of pheromones by moths and other species. Aquatic larvae of various sorts use all sorts of chemical communication, especially if they are under attack by predators or parasites. Even plants make noises, perhaps made by air and water flowing inside them, they also do during transpiration and of course, they release chemicals to warn others of attack by insects and more recently, the fungi that connect them to a huge web of mycelia underground, which in a mature woodland may run for miles. They have estimated that the fungal connections under trees in a mature woodland may be the largest living thing, bigger even than blue whales, and certainly, in terms of weight, hundreds of miles of fungal strands must weigh quite a lot.

Again we underestimate fungi because without them, most herbaceous plants would .only grow half as well and trees not at all. In some the fungi invades their roots in others it surrounds their roots, but either way, they form a partnership, the fungi getting sugars that it can't manufacture because they don't do photosynthesis and the plants because they can't breakdown bacteria and the chemicals they form, but fungi can.

We tend to denigrate nature because some of us a just plain ignorant and others have an Old Testament approach in which god purportedly gave us dominion over plants and animals. If he did, he made a mistake and we have been abusing the natural world ever since. It doesn't really matter anymore because our rule over the planet is coming to an end as our cleverness backfires on us and climate change makes us extinct, unless we change very quickly, and our greed makes it unlikely. Besides, I don't believe in a god of any sort, so we have to dig our way out ourselves, it's our mess and no sky fairies are going to come and save us.

Maybe Yellowstone will go up, the huge caldera under the national park, or we get hit by an asteroid, as happened with the dinosaurs, but unless we change our ways, our demise as a species is certain.

I read about the high-speed rail link, and while I am in awe of the engineering, one of the sites is already polluting a chalk stream river, also, I'd prefer ancient woodland to some crappy railway set which will only shave some twenty minutes off the journey from Birmingham to London or wherever. Over a hundred billion pounds seems like quite an expensive investment for a few businessmen to save a few minutes, especially as those of us paying for it with our taxes, will be unlikely to travel on it. It's the Tories again, with the poor paying for something that further advances the rich man's convenience.

I see the Orange Ape has been indicted, I look forward to seeing him arrested and charged with loads of crimes and spending years in prison, it probably won't happen because the Nazi, oops, Republican Party won't let it, but unless they are stopped democracy in America and their legal system will have been damaged by someone who is known not to care about anything but himself. He already changed the Supreme Court until it became a laughing stock and Boris Johnson tried the same here, we mostly managed to stop him but he has done some damage. People like either of them should never be allowed into any sort of public office because they don't care for ordinary folk, and like the Tories here, there are many people who back them although all they are going to get is abused, they make sure the poor get poorer while they still pay for everything the rich require. I'm probably sounding like a hypocrite here because I am well off, but I can see it all quite clearly, the lies and the deceit, and remember, I wasn't always rich, living on baked beans on toast and tuna jacket potatoes.

Remember Covid and all the poor people who didn't make it or have disabilities from it and keep an eye on bird flu, because if it gets going, the mortality rate will make Covid seem like a stroll in the park, millions will die, and horribly. I hope the government agencies are up and running but I doubt it, not with the Tories unless their friends make money out of it. Apparently, over a billion pounds is unaccounted for from Covid and it's known lots of frauds went on, half of which seem to be untraceable.

While the US still has gun crimes with over a hundred mass shootings since Christmas, it seems our knife crime is almost as bad as there was a stabbing of two men in a taxi the other night, apparently, three men drove up and stabbed them in the cab. One of them died the other is still alive and I hope tells the police who did it.

Why people carry knives is almost as crazy as carrying guns, someone will get hurt and then they complain about the length of sentence, personally, I think it should be life and make them grow their own food, they'd have the time to do it.

I know I was a bit naughty when we went to see Mr Smith, but he had tried to order the murder of one of my friends. I found out he was a coward and a bully, aren't they always, but nobody died. They were scared but hey all survived the experience. I said next time they wouldn't, but I wouldn't kill them, but they don't know that.

I watched Welsh ladies beat Scotland in the women's 6 nations and it was very good, much more fluid than the men's games and quite exciting. They meet England next, who are reputed to be one of the best teams in the world, so we'll probably lose but we've beaten Ireland and Scotland so we might just win it. I know I should support Scotland but it was a good game and the better team won.