13th April 2019 Unlucky for some cockroaches?

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Saturday 13th 30-42F. A bright start promises lots of sunshine this morning. Light winds too. Just for once the two competing weather forecasters have used the same piece of seaweed and agreed on a sunny morning. It soon became cloudy and windy. It felt cold and a white frost clung to the long grass. About a 7 on the Retcher Scale. Where the stench of pig shit from the local fields runs from a modestly nauseating 5 to certain death from asphyxiation at 10.

Shorter walk to the lanes because I had things to do at home. Saw what I took to be a small, female Kestrel with unusually short and deep wings hovering over the verge. I slowed my pace to allow it to make its dive but it missed its prey and moved further along the road. Being buff and so small, with no obvious markings I am wondering if it was  sparrowhawk instead. The geese were doing their noisy rounds of the copse but in a threesome today. There is a pond lost in the trees in there so that may well hold their interest.

In the news today? Cyclists are demoted to well below human according to the latest research into driver behaviour. Driver who become angry at being inconvenienced abuse the cyclist. If only to vent their anger at the deliberate unfairness of being a driver on continuously congested roads.

They justify their anger and resulting, dangerous behaviour by demoting the cyclist to something more akin to a giant cockroach. Rather than the fragile flesh and blood common to most human beings. Such drivers enjoy no connection between logic and the idiocy of joining the traffic queues in a device intended for motorway travel while carrying at least five adults.

Many drivers very obviously resent having to engage their brains while driving. Steering out and around a cyclist, or rural pedestrian, is highly stressful. It may well lead to long term PTSD. Which could well affect their entire career or even their ability to father a normal child. So the vulnerable cyclist or pedestrian must be punished for all that is wrong with their world. An easy target for a nuclear holocaust but without any of the diplomatic or mental skills to avert a crisis.

The anonymous vehicle becomes a giant sledge hammer to carry out spontaneous and impromptu crash test dummy trials. Without the supposed anonymity of their vehicle they wouldn't dream of swinging a sledge hammer at strangers in the high street. If they were on foot they would never dream of ramming their shopping trolley into any unfortunate cyclist heading blissfully unaware for the supermarket cycle rack.

Yet, emboldened by their mobile invincibility the driver becomes the infant school yard bully in the car park. Parking is stressful. More skill is required than the average driver can muster on a stinking hangover. They have the ability to wipe out everybody in the car park if only they had the skill and the nerve.

The last trees bravely hold their ground as the giant machines constantly nibble away at the forest.

There are people to blame everywhere they look. Stupid kids throwing themselves under their wheels as they floor the pedal and shriek away from a missed parking space like a blown dragster on Nitro. Using every Newton's torque [or whatever] from their four valves per pot, turbocharged <cough> "racing car in sheep's clothing."

Or so they imagine having once seen saloon car racing on the TV. No doubt while consuming their third giant bag of potato crisps and yet another beer before going shopping for more crisps and beer. [In the car of course] Cycling and walking are strictly for losers. And cockroaches, of course.

Sunday 14th 34F, bright start but some cloud expected. Al Chump One is being brought down like the last mobster who thought himself above the law. He has until the 23rd April to provide his tax returns for the last few years. It was horribly cold and dark grey by the time I'd returned from my walk. With a chilly wind which made even the GripGrab cycling gloves feel inadequate. It has reached a scorching 36F or +2C. Only a few crows and jackdaws plying their way across the landscape. Doing whatever it is that they do. I was reading that skyscrapers are responsible for billions of bird deaths. It is commonplace to see images of birds of prey attached to picture windows in Denmark. In an attempt to fend off bird strikes.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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