The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3065 by Angharad Copyright© 2016 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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The previous day’s joy was dampened somewhat by a story in the Guardian saying that at current rates the Arctic ice would be gone by 2022, at least during the month of September. The ice at the poles reflects back more solar radiation than anywhere else on the earth, so its loss would mean an increase in the rate of global warming by possibly 3degrees Celsius. Twice what was hoped for at Rio and Paris and above even the higher two degrees that was thought to be the critical level of irreversible change like increased desertification, massive flooding and increasingly powerful storms.

The storms are caused by huge amounts of heat energy being stored in the oceans and then being liberated by weather systems. The flooding could be coastal through rising sea levels, especially if the Greenland ice sheet melts, or through increased rain storms and the flash flooding they tend to bring. People living in natural flood plains could be at extra risk, especially as insurance companies seem disinclined to be helpful with regards to flooding, especially through storms and the situation of the house. If a house has been flooded before, insurance is difficult to get or the premiums prohibitive—either way, the risk of being uninsured rises and people can lose huge amounts of money though flood damage or difficulties in selling the property on because new potential buyers can’t get a mortgage.

There has been a trend against flats in recent years because generally the British don’t like them, the exception being luxury flats and those designed for the elderly but with the cost of land rising, it looks like it might be the only way enough homes could be built to help with the massive demand for property.

I think the idea to sell off all the council housing was a huge mistake and resulted in a huge loss of affordable housing to rent. So these days we’re hearing stories of adult children being stuck living at home because they can’t afford to rent or buy for themselves or the bank of mum and dad, helping to pay mortgages or acting as guarantors. The inflated price of property, which is unsustainable, will inevitably crash and the numbers of people who are left in negative equity will be significant, but then the alternative is to pay through the nose for a rented property to some private landlord who may or may not be a good one and carry out maintenance regularly.

Much of this housing situation is due to right wing ideology beginning with Thatcherite policies and carried on ever since. Selling off the public housing stock for below market values increased house price inflation, especially in the south east, where as soon as the new owner had passed the conditional occupation time of three or five years, they sold on and made huge profits moving often to the countryside or coast and driving up prices there. Sadly, no government has the bottle to start major publicly owned, affordable housing schemes, and the Tories certainly won’t do it relying on locally imposed conditions of a percentage of affordable or social housing per development. There are ways around this and so the social housing stock continues to shrink.

I’d been astonished to read an article in the Guardian a few days ago by someone who was a lobbyist for the shooting community, extolling the virtues of grouse moors and how they contribute to the countryside. It was a total nonsense of inverted logic and lies, which even Donald Trump would be hard pressed to outdo. Talking of, the presidential candidate with the golf course in Scotland, I also learned he’d cut off someone’s water supply three years ago, because they refused to move for him to build his golf course, which still has not been reinstated. He’s obviously not someone to have as an enemy, especially as the person without the water is an old lady in her nineties.

Liz had formed quite a good relationship with the girls who enjoyed working with her during the half term holiday. The exception was Danielle, who is older and thus preferred to do her own thing at times, going to see Cindy or football training, or just hanging out with her friends in town—presumably eyeing the boys and being seen too. This usually involved wearing the shortest and tightest shorts and tights or leggings.

I was told that once boys discovered she was an England international, they either begged her for access to the men’s team for tickets or fan paraphernalia, neither of which she could supply or would want to. An alternative to that was to rubbish women’s soccer or walk away because it challenged their own self esteem. I suspect Trish and Livvie may have problems too because of their intellects. Lots of boys don’t like very clever girls because it makes them feel inadequate. Consequently, girls often underachieve on purpose so as not to frighten off the boys. In some ways the single sex school that the convent is, might discourage girls from hiding their lights under bushels because the boys won’t know what their academic grades are.

The same doesn’t seem to work for single sex boys’ schools and them becoming co-educational often adds a civilising element to their everyday behaviour.

I continued to fight my corner with Hancock about the films he was doing for us. I knew what I wanted, he also knew what I wanted but he wanted something else. As the budget holder, my influence eventually prevailed but it added an after taste to the whole idea and I decided in future I’d only make wild life films with Alan or someone similar.

He phoned one morning to ask about the chances of starting filming for the pine marten or wild cat films and was horrified to learn of the difficulties with Hancock, seeing as he’d recommended him in the first place. He told me to stand my ground and Hancock would eventually give way. It wasn’t quite borne out so far which had resulted in nothing having happened as far as images on film or tape were concerned.

Jacquie had been studying history and she told me later that her conversations with Liz had helped her enormously and made her consider that teaching may be the best option for employment. I wasn’t so sure, as in places teachers didn’t earn enough to rent or buy houses. It’s also a very stressful job and I didn’t know if she’d be strong enough to deal with it; but if that’s what she wanted to do, I’d give her as much support as I could.

October has become November and autumn is beginning to speed up, the leaves turning and then being cast off by the trees, to float and swirl in any wind there may be, before plopping to earth often some distance from the mother tree. The colours are amazing, a palette of golds and reds, browns and russets changing into something else when directly illuminated by rays of golden sunlight.

It got me thinking about what sort of winter we were due and how the dormice would cope with it.