Easy As Falling Off A Bike pt 2975

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The Daily Dormouse.
(aka Bike, est. 2007)
Part 2975
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.
*****

The following day I received an email from Jan asking if I had any ideas as to how they could improve upon what I’d seen. Quite honestly, I couldn’t. Nor could I think of anywhere that I’d seen so many pyramidal orchids in one place. I’d gone too early to have any hope of seeing the silver studded blue butterflies, a variety of which is only found on Portland.

All I could suggest was someone surveying the old quarry on a regular basis checking on the status of different species, though with butterflies that can be difficult due to weather conditions. It happens with my speciality too, dormice suffer from weather conditions a mild wet winter possibly being more dangerous for them than a colder, drier one.

One thing I had noticed was the amount of dog’s mess around the paths and even the odd poo bag that had been chucked into bushes and things. Perhaps a notice asking dog owners to take their dog shit home with them might improve things. I’m sure the vast majority are quite responsible but it seems we have a significant minority who spoil it for everyone, a bit like litter louts. Why we have to tolerate these people I don’t know, but we do and the countryside, like the towns is frequently covered in fast food wrappers and other litter, dropped by ignorant morons who seem not to care. They should be made to, not with ridiculous fines they are unable to pay but by being forced to do hundreds of hours of cleaning up theirs and other’s litter with no excuse accepted for not turning up—except a death certificate.

Very few places in this country are free from litter and I don’t know why. Are children no longer taught to take it home with them or to place it in a litter bin when they are available? The same with dog poo—owners caught not cleaning up after their dogs should be forced to clean up whole swathes of it—there’s plenty on any green space, with no excuse accepted for not doing it. Personally, I’d make them eat it because that would guarantee no further deposits, so would shooting the dog but that seems unfair on the poor animal who already has to cope in living with a pretty stupid human.

Butterfly surveys are usually done every week, with the surveyor walking the same route each time, at the same time of day—the best time is usually the warmest time of day, late morning or early afternoon as the insects’ activity is often controlled by temperature. Male butterflies are possibly the luckiest creatures on earth, all they do is fuel up on nectar and mate or fight each other. Their lives are short and sweet for the most part, but for many humans it would be an ideal lifestyle.

Tuesday had started fine enough with some warm sunshine, however, by the time I went to collect the girls it was cloudy with rain and much cooler. Wednesday was predicted to be worse, so I was glad I’d been to the quarry when I had. They all grumbled because they’d wanted to go out and play after school and I know Danielle was wanting to do some running to keep herself fit. She was hoping to play for England at the weekend.

If I’d had any energy, I might have gone running with her. I did try to get Julie or Phoebe to go with her but they just laughed at me, presumably thinking my idea was bizarre. I wasn’t too happy about her going out on her own, especially in singlet and shorts but she insisted she’d be okay. I disagreed and pulled rank on her telling her to wait and I’d ride my bike alongside her. She eventually acquiesced and we both got wet. I also got cold as I was just trundling beside her as she trotted along. But I knew she was safe if damp.

Phoebe came to have a chat with me after I’d showered and we’d had dinner. David did a beautiful meat pie with new potatoes, broad beans and carrots. Mima complained that the peas tasted funny. Phoebe it appeared was a little bored with beauty therapy and wanted some advice about doing something different.

The problem was she didn’t know what she wanted to do. She and Julie were earning a reasonable income but she felt life was more important than just money it needed some sort of fulfilment as well. I asked her to describe what she meant by that and she couldn’t tell me. However, she could suggest that I seemed fulfilled in my chosen career. I told her I probably was but it might not suit everyone to do the same. We have a fair number of new students who seem to think we teach dormouse juggling rather than the ecology and conservation of several species. Some knuckle down and go on to get a degree while others leave and do something else.

I tried to tell her that life is largely what we make it, especially in the western democracies. I asked if she’d spoken with Julie and she said she hadn’t because she didn’t know what she wanted to do. I told her to explore some websites of different colleges and universities and see what was available but she needed to talk with Julie because her absence would affect Julie’s life as well. She said she appreciated that and it was a worry for her as she felt it limited her choices. I had tried to point this out to her at the time and I was also worried that she was clever enough to go to university but didn’t and might regret it later in life. Seems that might be starting. The problem is, she’d be older than most first year students and that I think concerns her. That universities like the Open University, often have very mature students on most courses didn’t seem to occur to her. We have the odd one now on our courses. We rarely turn them down because they have a civilising influence on some of the younger students and because they really want to learn, they are a joy to teach. At the same time you have to remember that older adults have been out in the world longer than you have and thus have loads of experience and sometimes interesting skills to go with it—including that of putting patronising teachers in their place.

Thankfully, it’s never happened to me but Tom relates a story of a colleague to whom it did and after attempting to appear superior to a mature student on a subject discovered the student had a master’s in it and wiped the floor with them. He made sure he never fell into the same trap when he was teaching and I was attempting to do the same as I thought it sound advice which fitted beautifully with my idea that universities were there to help people develop their potential educationally and to facilitate this mind expansion. Personally, I think the latter is more important than a degree. In other words, we teach people how to think and how to use thinking in supporting their future needs.

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Comments

Have to agree with

Cathy about the mess we find on our streets ,There is no excuse whatsoever for not taking home your own rubbish ,If you do that yourself then your children will follow your example ...well most of them will .... Some of the worst amounts of litter though that i have come across though have not been left by children, Cinemas seem to be a place where people just do not seem bothered enough to remove their popcorn cartons. drinks bottles .... Is it really that difficult to drop it in the rubbish bin on the way out of the cinema ?

Kirri

Would that be a red or white

Would that be a red or white wine with that ? Cats are nice !
I used to fish in northern New Hampshire near the Maine State line. We joked it was easy to find a trail, just look for soda cans and empty Potato chip bags, left by people who were concerned about the 'ecology'.
There are many on line Universities. It would depend on her field of study, of course.

Karen

College Level Course Work

I audit the odd course at our local University and it can be quite fun actually. I've taken enough Psychology to decide that counselors are deranged. After a career in the Electrical industry, not interested. I love to study ancient history and world religions, though that racket seems to carry a lot of obnoxious nutters.

Carry on then.

Gwen

I was lucky enough to attend a Montessori school as a child....

D. Eden's picture

And although it perpetually drives my spouse to distraction, the fact that the Montessori system not only teaches how to learn, but it instills the desire to learn as well, has truly shaped my life.

Like Ricki-ticki-tavi, whose motto was "Run and find out!", I am constantly asking why or what. Or quite often, why not? I am after all an engineer by training.......

Oh, and what drives my spouse to distraction is my constant need to know. Thank God she loves me, or else she might have killed me years ago over it! Hopefully, that love is enough to get us through our current situation - notably, my transition.

Dallas

D. Eden

Dum Vivimus, Vivamus

Did u see billions where the

Did u see billions where the goverment lawer made the guy pick up the dog mess with his hands sweet.

Pet Hate

Christina H's picture

Dog owners not picking up pooh! But my real pet hate are the morons that pick up the pooh then throw the plastic bag into the bushes - the hard work has been done they've bent down and cleared the mess up - their brain cell must be very lonely.

Litter - simply don't get me onto the morons that blight our city centres and countryside it really makes my blood boil these fly tippers get caught and the stupid courts fine them a pittance. NOW if they crushed their van's, wagons etc then chopped their hands off it would make reoffending real hard. (This must be the Ghengis Khan coming out of me when normally I'm peaceful)

Mind you Ang finding cat pooh when you are doing your flower borders stops you biting your nails for a while and it does stink - but in defence the cat makes the attempt of burying their pooh.

Christina

That's why I always wore

That's why I always wore nitrile exam gloves when gardening, the plus was very clean , although sweaty hands

Karen

Mature students.

I was a mature student on my B.Sc., course at UWIST, Cardiff. In fact I was twenty four starting the 1st year course.
On the compulsory liberal studies course which as attended by all students from different faculties, I just wanted to knuckle down complete the assignments without drawing too much attention to my self. My self confidence was still pretty much ZERO!!! and I chose a seat at the back of the lecture theatre to avoid attracting attention. That was until my second assignation when the liberal studies lecturer entered the auditorium and looked around the ranks of seats searching for somebody.

I had no idea what he was about so I just sank into my seat as I had done during the first couple of discussions and waited for the session to start. Then he held up a sheaf of notes and asked.
"Where is Bevan Hulse?"
I hesitated several seconds before cautiously raising my hand. he spotted me immediately and declared.

"You seem to have travelled extensively young man."
I swallowed and nodded nervously.
"A bit sir."
"What class are you in?"
"Geography and maths sir."
"Are you a mature student?"
"Yes sir."
"So I presume you've worked somewhere that involved travelling."
"Yes sir."
"Would you like to tell the class where you've been?"
I hesitated then just replied, "United States and Canada."
"And where else?"
I paused, unsure of what to say without sounding like somebody bragging. It's not at all unusual for a seafarer to have visited many, many, countries even after having been at sea for just a few years. On and off between studying for my second mate's licence, and buying my cottage in Wales, I had been eight years at sea and travelled extensively. I was still reluctant to tell all. However he stood waiting with my essay in his hand. He sensed I was reluctant to draw attention to myself but he persisted.
"Please tell us, my classes thrive on students relating their experiences, what other countries?"
Reluctantly I reeled off about thirty countries from all continents before he stopped me.
"That's enough. I could see it from this essay. You can be an asset to this class if you are prepared to participate fully. Join in the discussions, your experiences will bring interest to others."
I nodded reluctantly and wondered just HOW MUCH 'experience' the class could swallow. From that lecture to the end of the year It was like doing a slow, gravity-defying dive as I struggled not to reveal too much of what had gone before. Several times the discussion group asked about my schooldays and such like but I had to struggle to reply and they must have thought I was a weird cove always avoiding anything to do with childhood. Indeed, a couple of student expressed the idea that I had lied about my travelling until I felt forced to produce my seaman's discharge book with records of every voyage. That and the many stamps in my passport which were not required for seafarers but I collected when I joined ships abroad once I left the British merchant navy and worked for foreign companies in hot pursuit of the almighty dollar.
I did get an 'A' for Liberal studies though.

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Experiences of old age

I've traveled a bit also but not as much as you, and also did several different jobs, some of them that would make grown men piss themselves. And you are right, even trying to be modest, they young people begin to believe that we are exaggerating.

In retrospect, it seems clear that I was either having a death wish, or over compensating for feelings of inadequacy because of my being in denial over being so effeminate inside. Shrinks tried to say I has all sorts of issues, and some of them I did, but I was recently digging through some records and found out that I am an INFP (Meyers Briggs), so was likely simply just being myself. We are odd ducks, only about 4% of the total population. Sometimes the shrinks screw us up worse than we were to begin with.

Gwen

I taught at a 2 year college for quite a few years

The "mature" students were usually the best because they knew why they were in school. They'd experienced life and were ready to take another step. I hope Phoebe does decide to explore her options. She doesn't have to quit work to take a few classes.