The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2683 by Angharad Copyright© 2015 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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I finished my lunch and after changing into jeans and a top, grabbed my binoculars, camera, hat and rucksack drove out to the forest reserve. This one had no visitor centre, just the odd car park with notices not to leave valuables in your car as there were thieves about.

I changed my trainers for walking boots and added my gaiters. It was a bit warm but made it harder for anything to crawl up my leg and bite me. I sprayed insect repellent over my face and neck and on my hands and wrists—Scottish midges were renowned for making life difficult in the outdoors. I wasn’t taking any chances.

As I pulled on my barbour, the smell of the spray wafted up into my face, it certainly smelt repellent and would probably keep marauding white sharks away, I just hoped it worked on the little pests as well as it claimed on the tin. I dropped the tin in my pocket, set up my binoculars for focus and walked from the car park into the forest.

I could give you a list of plants and birds I saw. The most exciting was a golden eagle, we don’t get too many of them in Portsmuff, mind you, the pair of crossbills I saw also made me feel I’d made the right choice in opting to come to the reserve not go shopping in the city.

The forest wasn’t all trees, there were open areas where heather and grass dominated with some gorse bushes as well. A small group of red deer wandered away from me almost with a casual nonchalance until they faded into the trees and disappeared. As long as they have an escape route, they’ll usually take it. The scientist from Cambridge who was attacked a couple of New Years ago, and who was lucky to survive, was only charged by the stag because it was trapped in a garden by fencing that was designed to keep it out—except someone left the gate open.

I saw fox moths flitting in the long grass and kept a look out for adders, our only poisonous snake, which do quite well in parts of Scotland—allegedly, especially in the parliament at Holyrood. Oops, now I’m becoming political—well as a Scot, I don’t favour separation from the rest of the UK as the majority of Scottish Parliament members might, even though they represent a minority of Scottish voters.

Back in the trees, I saw a couple of red squirrels, which was nice, though they’re easier to find on Brownsea island in Poole harbour down in Dorset, and where they’re semi tame.

It’s interesting that most of the crows in Scotland, especially here in the middle of the country are what are called hooded crows or hoodies, they also occur on the Isle of Man, so Cav should be familiar with them—though I suspect if you mentioned, hoodie to him he’d think of the garment not the bird. I saw some ravens too; unmistakeable with their sheer size, wedge tails and ‘gronk’ call.

After three hours I returned to the hotel texted Trish to tell her I’d skype her later and tidied myself up to have dinner. After I finished my makeup, I made a cuppa in the room and then sent another text to say I was starting to skype. I suspect the webcam images that went to and fro were next to useless. I could just about recognise each of the girls by their voices and demeanour as much as their facial features, but we had a little chat and I was able to keep up to date with their lives. Danni told me she was miffed they’d left her out of the world cup but pleased England women were doing so well in Canada. Even Hannah came and spoke saying she thought she’d done quite well in her exams, thanks to Trish and Livvie. I told her they might have helped but her exam results were due to her alone, they couldn’t sit the papers for her so it was her effort that would count. Anyway, she was enjoying the convent as a school.

I rang off just before eight, as that was the time my table was booked. They rang me to say the table was ready, so I checked my hair and makeup in the mirror and went down to the dining room.

I kept it simple with vegetable soup and then a rare sirloin steak and a carafe of house red. Well, I wasn’t going anywhere until the morning, so I treated myself. It wasn’t too bad.

At one point I thought the creepy manager was coming back to talk about our stately pile, but he didn’t, however the head waiter asked if another lone woman diner might share my table. I wasn’t exactly pleased by the idea but politeness prevented me from saying so—see, I’ll never make a proper aristocrat.

The late middle aged woman was from south of the border down Melksham way. I knew the area reasonably well being between Bath and Devizes, having cycled there some years ago. I used to put the bike on the train and work out a route to ride, do it and then get the train home again in the evening.

We chatted away and within an hour I knew she was a widow with two sons, one thirty nine and the younger was three years his junior. Their names were Malcolm and Roger, and hers was Carol. She was a retired local government officer in planning. I managed to keep her off that subject quite well.

“What about you? You seem somewhat familiar though I don’t think we’ve met before, have we?”

“We might have but I don’t recall it. Perhaps I have one of those faces people confuse with celebrities.”

“No, I’m sure it’s not that. What d’you do?”

“I’m a biologist.”

“Sounds interesting.”

“It has its moments.”

“What does it entail?”

“I teach at a university.”

“I’ll bet that’s quite interesting.”

“The odd one of my students does say thank you now and again.”

She laughed, “Well that was more than our drivers did as we tried to improve traffic flows.”

“I suppose it is a pretty thankless task.”

“Yeah, more brickbats than rewards.”

“Sounds like working in a modern university, the students want value for money as they borrow up to their necks and need to get an income asap if they pass.”

“So many young person’s lives is blighted by debt these days and they owe so much it tends to have no meaning for them.”

“I hear that all the time but we did implement a method for them to be able to voice concerns about poor tuition, including value for money.”

“Good for you, Cathy.” Yeah, why shouldn’t I hear well of myself,