Today's news. Jeremy the snail who had a left spiralled shell and who died three years ago, and left a family of 52 other snails. Well it was all an accident being born with a left spiral and not a right according to a scientist today who has been studying the case of left against right.. Well join the clan Jeremy I'm left handed as well, and manage quite happily, (except for scissors). Such frivolous news makes the day a bit less full of more dramatic things. But suddenly in the deep recesses of my brain I remember at nursery school being made to use my right hand for drawing, it did not work. One other thing I would ask of the snails and slugs, I know the rain today will be a welcome relief for all of you but don't climb up the bags and eat my bean plants please. I don't use slug pellets because of all the other creatures in the garden.
It is raining, joy of joys and I must go to Bata to get animal food. Also the 'rape' of Yorkshire beauty spots will be called to a halt, and rubbish tipping will stop. Something is wrong, people need the great outdoors but they don't know how to look after it, perhaps self mocking signs might help ;) I could put forth the theory that the human race is stupid but then I might get lynched, but double parking down narrow lanes how did you get out early? And how does a picnic result in tons of rubbish, okay middle class sensibilities would be seen out with a wicker basket with all the accoutrements bound down inside, with elegant food to boot but forget them. The contents of a supermarket sprawled along the grass or on the beach really is too much, just think it out more.
End of rant. One further point, when I walk the dog, I will pick up the empty cans and sweet packets people so kindly throw out of their car windows as they go by, but I can't do it most of the times because I need rubber gloves to pick up the stuff now and forget to take them with me.
And not forgetting the next Unwanted insect from foreign parts, on the list the murderous Asian Hornet that feasts I believe on the leg muscles of our beautiful honeybee. If sighted, report!
I'm probably in the wrong, but I use slug pellets in pots and tubs but not in the garden. Metaldehyde pellets were going to be banned from this year but the ban has been overturned for the time being.
ReplyDeleteWell as long as you keep the pellets out of the way of hedgehogs, as you will know I expect. These pesticides and here I am thinking of others that kill bees and insects are always a point of contention. I have forgotten to write about the Asian hornet that may be breaching our borders, over from Europe I think.
ReplyDeleteH.I. bought a pair of left-handed kitchen scissors without noticing as she is left-handed. I notice them because I am not.
ReplyDeleteThere used to be a left-handed shop in Bath at one time, doubt they did much business though!
ReplyDeleteI used to be able to get organic slug pellets which were safe for wildlife (and cats). Now we have rain for the first time in weeks and weeks, I expect decimation of the already slow-growing veg plot! I think if you put the formaldehyde ones under half a grapefruit or orange skin, the slugs get them but the wildlife is less likely to. Otherwise, out there with your 7 league boots on Thelma!
ReplyDeleteI can only think all the "wrong" people from the cities, desperate for some fresh air and somewhere to sit in the sunshine, have abandoned their normal feral habitat and desecrated the countryside instead. Whatever happened to the "Keep Britain Tidy" mantra and teaching your children to take their litter home? Or am I just TOO antiquated now, expecting people not to pee in public and to take their litter home?
Funnily enough Jennie the "keep Britain Tidy" posters are beginning to appear on F/B, all that is needed now is someone to stand there with a machine that takes fines, it might work. Snails get put out for the mistle thrush and other thrushes, there has been a dearth of them in the hot weather.
DeleteI've been shocked at the pictures I've seen of the rubbish that people leave behind them. I assume that the people who have flocked to beauty spots, without thought of social distancing or of how the virus could end up transmitted to those much more vulnerable than themselves, are people who are selfish and self-entitled towards other people and towards our environment. I'm sure if those people were asked about why they left the mess they would say things along the lines of "It's not my job", "Someone gets paid to do it and "It keeps someone in work" - all excuses I've heard when I've challenged litter droppers.
ReplyDeleteI was reading about schools in some European countries where the students clean their classrooms at the end of each day and that teaches them that clearing up and not making an unnecessary mess in the first place, is a shared responsibility.
I suspect Anne that is very true about children tidying up after themselves in other country, France and Japan come to mind. The selfishness seems to have developed in the last couple of generations, think of the raves and Glastonbury, our young are just as bad.
DeleteI like Anne's suggestion - food for thought there. I have never seen a hedgehog in my garden - it is steep and the steps are deep so I presume they dont frequent it. I have slug pellets but never put them down until I see real evidence - so far this year my hostas are untouched.
ReplyDeleteI belong to a hedgehog group, they are very quickly diminishing Pat, road kills, bonfires and strimmers see them off without the added danger of slug pellets.
ReplyDeleteAnother left-handed one here. Didn't get my first pair of left-handed scissors until I was 21. Was amazed to cut something without getting that huge indent on my thumb. Also had a run in with a teacher in Germany who seemed to think a left-hander was the equivalent of the Devil's spawn. He used to grab my pencil from my left hand and slap it into my right hand. I took great joy in doing the reverse two seconds later. This went on for quite a while. Used up a lot of classroom time in that battle. And then there are all those spiral notebooks whose fixtures get in the way of your writing. Solved that for a time by turning pages and writing completely upside down, but then teachers thought I was cheating. Couldn't win. Though I did maintain the skill of reading upside down--very helpful during my career--standing before other people's desks. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely story of being left handed Mary. You think the rest of the world right handedess looks wrong. You are quite right about notebooks made for R/H people, never thought of that. Use my knife and fork properly but the brain is adjusted to that left side and all the ignorant teachers could never understand that.
ReplyDeleteLitter louts? Littering is something I have never been able to understand. On a windy day if a sales receipt blew out of my car's boot I would chase it down the street. After all, I can honestly claim that in my entire life I have not dropped one item of litter and it is a record I hope to maintain till the day I die.
ReplyDeleteThat is an excellent record of course but how do we stop all the others?
DeleteThe parents raised them poorly.
ReplyDeleteIt has probably gone on for generations Joanne, the problem is too much stuff on the shelves I think.
DeleteI remember when my son was about two or three he watched a woman dropping something on the street. He walked over to her picked it up and offered it up to her saying 'I think you have dropped something'. You could see her jaw dropping as she took it off him and walked away!
ReplyDeleteYour son was obviously starting young, good for him. I remember sitting in a car park, there were four youngsters in a car in front feeding away. Finished their food and then chucked all the wrappings out of the window. So I calmly went and picked everything up and put it in the rubbish bin a few yards away. A shocked silence and then a muffled 'thank you'
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