The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3434 by Angharad Copyright© 2024 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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Abi stayed for a week and Danni was very patient with her, being a few years older, more experienced and most importantly, more mature. She also had her own car and was able to take Abi about from under my feet, to see the local sites, not just the Spinnaker Tower, but the bridge and various other things and as well they went as far as Brighton.

Brighton is a bit like Glastonbury-on-sea, it's full of interesting people who consider themselves as individuals and thus not bound by the same rules as the rest of us. In Glastonbury, site of some of the Arthurian myths, and the rather outstanding tor, anything that can be used for marketing some form of spirituality, is done. It's full of the gullible looking for salvation, as well as being an entrance to the Mendips, a range of hills with very interesting geology, including the famous de la Beche angular unconformity, and loads of other places such as the famous Cheddar Gorge. Living in Bristol, I visited these places with my parents or with the school and probably still have the photos of them somewhere in a box or drawer up in the attic.

For those not geologically disposed, an unconformity is where the rocks don't lie in chronological sequence, so at Vallis Vale, where the de la Beche example is, there are rocks of Carboniferous limestone, which due to earth movement, probably the Variscan Orogeny, are lying at about 30 degrees to the vertical, with Jurassic limestone lying on top of them. 'So what?' you say, except that the carboniferous are roughly 400 million years old and the Jurassic are about 150 million years old, with nothing in between them, so rocks from the Triassic have completely disappeared through erosion. The sea has risen and dropped a couple of times because limestone is usually deposited in shallow oceans, and the Variscan orogeny is about mountain building, probably in Scotland, and the Mendips were squeezed up by enormous pressures, ultimately caused by plate tectonics, and those were many millions of years ago when Britain was somewhere near where Spain is today.

Going back to Glastonbury, the dress of people is as varied as it can be with hippies, flower people and some ordinary as well. Brighton is similarly as varied, with visitors and residents being a real assortment, and it is also known as the gay capital of Britain as well as having the only Green MP for a number of years. It also has the Royal Pavilion, a confection built by George IV while Prince Regent, as well as being a seaside town easily accessed from London. So staying with us in Portsmouth isn't just about a history of the Royal Navy, with Nelson's flagship, and other ships to see, including the Tudor 'Mary Rose', which sank while chasing off a French fleet with pretty well all hands lost.

So Abi had plenty to see and I know that Danni gave her the Cook's tour and looked after her very well. This was before she went off to Menorca and our villa there, with her sister Sarah, one of my later acquisitions if you remember and who is studying biology on the same course as Danni. According to the latest info from them, they have seen umpteen raptors and also the wild tortoises which are now protected. So it sounds as if they are having lots of fun.

Simon had as good as told me that he wouldn't be able to spare the time for a holiday anywhere and I was tempted to head for Stanebury for the last week or two in August. Jacquie would come with me, so would Julie who was looking for a short break. She would come for one week and Phoebe would come for the other to help with the littlies as well as have a week away from the salon. The salon was moving again to larger premises and they now had two extra stylists, both of whom trained with Julie or Phoebe. They were offering things like electrolysis and laser therapy for hair removal and that included a backroom for some of the shyer trans clients that they seemed to acquire. Living with a family with several originally trans sisters, they were quite user friendly for the shy types who were often still attending for treatment in male clothes.

It's funny that lots of people are used to seeing cross-dressers or transwomen and have no problems with them, while others, usually men, but not exclusively, seem to have a problem with them. I've never understood why, surely if someone isn't nice to look at, you walk away and carry on. It seems some can't do this without abusing them or worse, assaulting them and I can only think it says more about the abuser than the victim. Maybe if they are ever caught for assault or abuse the court should make more of this and make others think about it, as the only way to acceptance, or tolerance is by education and that means education. Of course the fact that the Tories and some women's groups, with narrow-minded celebrities like J K Rowling are not helping things, almost demonising transpeople, when it's really a distraction. I mean we are about to pass the tipping point of global warming, with scientists who study it saying we're missing the target of a maximum of 1.5 degree rise to a minimum of at least 2.5 degrees Celsius, wars in Ukraine, China menacing Taiwan and ethnic cleansing by Israel in Gaza. All should be tried for war crimes but it seems unlikely. The world is in a mess and it's only going to get worse but before common sense can prevail we need to rid ourselves of the bigots, even if they have written Harry Potter or invaded Ukraine or defrauded the tax man paying off their embarrassments, it also means educating the masses, stopping the deceit by religions and respecting the planet which is going to make many of us extinct in the next few decades. So obviously persecuting transpeople, especially children, is evidently the priority to put the world right - duh?

Why can't we all live in harmony? Why can't Muslim women dress like we western women can? Why can't women walk anywhere without fear? Why can't men learn that society is richer if women are seen as equals and why can't they control their dicks? Why? Because we are a nasty little ape, who thinks he is cleverer than he is and who has lost his moral compass substituting it with corruption and indignation, when he should be taking the mote out of his own eye.

There are apparently quite a few people who believe Revelation, the book in the Apocrypha without questioning it as being the rantings of a delusionary mind. They believe in a coming apocalypse as an Armageddon, a battle to be fought to the north of Israel. If instead of reading fairy stories from the bible, they read some ancient history, they'd know that Armageddon was fought about 600BC and won by the Hittites. Of course, these people live in America, what a surprise, but they seem able to indulge their delusions without the Republican party acting against them as they do trans children. Evidently, the latter are the cause of all wrongs and need to be persecuted. I'm still trying to understand that before suggesting that all Republicans and Tories be locked up under the mental health act.

I was sitting reflecting on all this when Hannah came into my study with Cate. "This little toad has just taken my CD and broken it."

I looked at the younger girl and asked her for her side of it, because, usually there are two sides and the truth. I wondered if we'd ever get to that. Cate looked at me and said that she hadn't broken Hannah's CD, but Lizzie had.

Hannah argued that it was Cate not Lizzie who was seen coming out of her bedroom and in the tussle that followed the CD became broken. Both girls became angry and shouted at each other. In the end I had to try and rule on their dispute like a high court judge. So I forbade Cate to go in Hannah's room again, and told Hannah to make a copy of the CD from the one that Trish had, but to put it back afterward. I didn't ever quite get to the bottom of it, but part of me thought bringing up boys couldn't be any harder.

I began to understand why Daddy used to work most evenings when he was professor of biology. It was because no matter how much you get through, there aren't enough hours in the day to do it all. I was here in my study dealing with things that should have been done in my office, when Julie and Phoebe invited themselves to dinner. They had told David beforehand so there was plenty of food. It was getting warmer so salmon with salad went down quite well.

Needless to say, my office work was forgotten as I had a good old chinwag with my two daughters. As we chatted I remembered how each had originally come to me and this seemed to run in my subconscious while I managed to stay focused enough in the conversation to stay with the others. David, who'd not found anyone after Ingrid, had stayed for the chat which varied from the latest television programmes to things happening in the real world. I was at a disadvantage because I watched so little television, I'd rather listen to radio or read. The girls watched it, sometimes squabbling over various programmes and it got so bad one night I confiscated the remote control and then forgot where I put it. So a day or so later Simon wanted to watch something and we couldn't find it. It was in my desk drawer hidden by some plain chocolate hobnobs, so he grabbed those too.

We talked about the forthcoming holiday and I mentioned that I wanted to do a sample of the aquatic insect larvae in the stream which ran down the woodland at Stanebury, so I'd be taking nets and trays and wellies with me. I had searched the records but couldn't find any entry relating to this particular stream. What I found up there could be very different to a similar stream down here. What was disappointing is that wherever we did it, numbers of species and individual numbers were likely to be down; we were fast approaching catastrophe in terms of biodiversity but no government seemed to care, all they worried about was getting re-elected.

Julie and Phoebe left and I asked them to make an appointment for me for a haircut and also a leg wax, I had seen my hairy legs one day this week when I wore a skirt. no a dress, to work and the fair hair stood out in the strong sunlight, Shaving, is so temporary, but waxing seems to last quite a while.

It was good to see them and Jacquie also enjoyed our chat; did I mention she got her degree and is thinking of doing a Masters in Women's Studies? I've offered to fund it for her, here at Portsmouth, but she's still deciding if she wants the hassle of further study, she is such a help to me but since the children got older she has more time for doing things.

I went into my study, packed up my papers and switched off my computer. I had no enthusiasm for more work tonight. I made a mental note that I'd have to finish my report for the board meeting at the bank. I was still a director and still trying to keep them on a green agenda, which Henry approved. It seemed that he really was keeping his word to the goddess, who I bargained with all those years ago to save him. That took me back to places I didn't wish to revisit. I switched off the light and went to bed, missing my man but he'd be home at the weekend with Sammi, who I also missed and perhaps the only one that Trish was respectful of for knowing more about computers than she did. I went to bed and worked through some more pleasant memories and fell asleep knowing the morning would be here before I was ready.