Single Use

After enjoying a dinky sorbet, at a vast English Heritage site, I kept the plastic tub, partly as a happy reminder, partly as it was useful.

Ten years on, the ‘single use’ plastic tub is still going strong, as a coffee granule container that travels to work with me, while purpose designed reusable containers have been and gone.

At English Heritage the tubs have all been replaced by cardboard, as a sustainable option and I can see why – there is an argument that despite my re-use I’m just delaying the inevitable of my tub going to landfill.

But I shall keep it going, pleasantly surprised by its continued strength, quality and air-tight properties, while noting how many of the ‘reusable’ ‘eco-friendly’ options are already in a landfill or disintegrated after single use causing use of further resources in their replacement.

Repair shop

Last month, after an amble online, I visited a local repair cafe, which specialises in either repairing items that would otherwise go to landfill or teaching you how to do so.

They took this well.

After a lot of skilled effort from the repairer, to take apart each item and find out what had happened since 1992, I now have one working cassette player, a second that may work with a new part, and a third that should be offered the dignified burial of its choice.

As I have an impressive collection of audiobooks, this is wonderful news!

But the best part of the whole exercise is not the ‘new’ machinery, but the new mindset – items that I don’t have the know-how or dexterity to fix are no longer lost – and a toddler taken along too saw for the first time that broken items may still be resurrected – while also understanding that they should still be looked after as not everything can come back.

They also saw a ‘Cassette player’ working, which is a whole new adventure.

Leap Month

Missed a month!

But I won’t miss this date next year!

All good things…

Like many in 2020, I dropped off the planet for a while. A difference was that unlike most, the household had a new adventure unfolding that meant I stayed off the planet longer than expected.

For at least one person, this could have been a disaster with repercussions stretching long into the years to come.

But thankfully there was someone who I’ve never met, who would have had no idea he was doing so, who in one important way was able to take my place: someone roughly my age, accent, and academic background who could enthusiastically show and describe the beauty of the world, while visiting new places and meeting new people, far better than I ever could have, and all while talking clearly and directly to the camera.

But all good things come to an end.

So, thank you Tom.

Dog Days

It’s funny suddenly doing ‘normal’ things that to you aren’t normal.

“Funny ‘Strange’ and funny ‘HaHa'”

This year, we’re looking after a dog over Christmas.

It’s a happy, healthy, bouncy, lockdown baby of a specific breed to always want people and play all the time. It’s from a household of adults or adult-sized people and is immaculately kept and beautifully trained.

I lived with and cared for a dog at university so thankfully learned how to manage and dogproof a house as an adult while living with other adults who’d been raised with dogs and already knew what they were doing.

But that’s not the case here… it’s been a worthwhile education for all.

So, heartfelt wishes to you of a happily chaotic Christmas!

Slithery Story

Here’s a slithery news story that is fascinating for what’s not in it as much as what is, starting with the meticulously typed label:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-67442473.amp

The snake in the box is 7 months old and weighs 330g. In context, Mr snake weighs c.450g and, as the household can attest, can be comfortably handled and worn by a whole classroom full of three year olds who have never met him before (under supervision!)

The ancestry list is detailed and contains some rare and sought after patterns – this snake should be known to breeders and was chosen carefully by the owner.

Circumstances change and it’s possible their household might have realised that a final size of 1-2kg and 3-5ft is much bigger, stronger and faster than it sounds and requires a large secure tank and storage for his paraphernalia. Monty’s tank now has a lock to ensure all curious creatures stay on the correct side of the glass.

Also, the snake is sat on expensive substrate. The news stories of abandoned snakes usually mention the need to heat them, but we have found that the substrate costs much more – although there are households who refuse to have them in the house so end up paying to heat poorly insulated sheds to tropical temperatures.

The most interesting point of the label is not what it says, but what it doesn’t. It is wonderful that they noted it is non-venomous. It’s interesting they call it a Ball (US) not a Royal (UK) python. They’re correct in supposing that the genetics would be best understood by the list that they’ve generously supplied.

But what appears to be missed is the one piece of information actually needed to keep the snake well. The finder or their friendly snake specialist can tell the species, age and keeping requirements in an instant by looking in the box. But what they don’t know, as it varies between snakes of the same age, size in the same species, is what it eats: species, size, how often – and this is the one piece of information missing!

And then there were two…

Last week, Madam Snake went peacefully at home to the great cornfield in the sky – from the tumours first diagnosed in 2020. They started benign, but as the vet noted, later ones won’t be and will be untreatable, so the decision was made to keep her comfortable for as long as possible, which we are happy we were able to do.

Following the surprise of her death was the sudden and pertinent question of how to reverently but safely dispose of a beloved 6ft snake.

The usual method is garden burial, but here there is the risk of curious excavators of multiple species.

So I phoned our local vet who offered an attractive selection of options for cremation. When I asked how long I could keep Madam in the freezer while we decided she said, “Bring her… now… so we can make sure she’s dead.”

After scanning her heart and confirming that sadly it wasn’t hibernation brought on by autumn weather, Madam is now in the vet’s freezer, to come home in a scattertube to be dusted on to the lawn.

A toddler we know was told that their cat was at the vets – and now frequently asks for its safe return, unaware it was buried in their garden months ago.

The toddler known to Madam has been told what is happening and while they cannot comprehend that they won’t see madam again in her fiery orange glory, they are content that her ashes will become soil, grass, slugs, birds and Madam will be always around them, even if they cannot see her any more.

Deathly Dilemma

There’s a mix of dilemma and curiosity here at present – a toddler known to us is about to realise that her nursery’s pet bunny hasn’t been seen in a while… and while most toddlers would accept “he’s at the vet’s” and stop asking, this one is familiar with snakes, their food and knows big zoo snakes eat bunnies.

There’s also the issue that telling a child that the bunny is living at the vet’s or went there and died is not going to incline them to take their own pets if they ever need to, if they’ve no experience of a pet coming home.

Into this mix, with toddlers who can’t yet understand chronology, sequence or death, as their wiring isn’t there, is the additional oddity that any toddler around now will feel a global pandemic followed by the platinum jubilee then death of a beloved monarch is entirely normal.

The monarch was shown in all media as happy, active, loved by all and serving to the end. This toddler also visited Windsor Castle, saw the flowers and crowds, and the splendour of the castle and Great Park. The toddler has a vague idea that the monarch is head of a church, which at Christmas involves angels in heavenly glory with robes and halos… it’s understandable things could get muddled.

Which is probably what led to the sudden announcement one day that, “If you’ve had a really long life, and did lots of things, and had a good life, and were really happy, then when you die, you become queen.”

Which raises the questions of what the toddler thought was happening at the coronation and whether she thinks the bunny will be getting a State Funeral.

Autumnal renewal

Autumn is here, but I won’t tell the garden if you don’t- the arches have been stripped out and replaced with a brambled pergola, and there is new blossom even if it’s likely frost will cut short the blackberries.

Monty has finally eaten, after 7.5 weeks. Snakes are fed very dead things, about once a week, with long tongs or left on a tray – but even then I’m not keen on sticking my hand into his tank as he’s hungry and a mistaken finger looks and smells very tempting.

Summer Transitions

And not just the sunglasses.

The garden arches are continuing their descent, with a lop-sided prune that leaves them looking like Loughborough Uni’s Grade II listed Towers Hall.

Perhaps it was my own adventures at university that led to an appreciation of singular 1960s listed buildings, all of which appear to be shining examples of an innovative style that for some reason has never been tried before or since – subsidence, unsecured masonry, accidental wind tunnel etc.

Bracknell’s Point Royal – ensuring New Towns didn’t miss out, was noted to be ‘An outstanding monument to 1960s architecture’, a description that stands the test of time in whatever manner it is interpreted.

But we are reaching the end of the blackberries and soon we will have to decide how to maintain the bramble – what to cut, to keep, to support or lose.

For the first time we’ve grown potatoes. The snails got most of the sunflowers but the sweetcorn and tomatoes are ripening well, all species and varieties we’ve never tried to grow before. Doesn’t look as good as the photos I’ve been sent of figs from overseas, from the Netherlands and scotland, but we can try next year.

And Monty is changing to. Male royal pythons grow 2.5-4ft, weigh 1kg and have a stubby tail. Females grow 3.5-5ft, weigh 2kg and have long tails. Monty was kept in a place unknown for 10 years, then a teenager’s bedroom. When measured last month ‘he’ was 4ft5 and 1.94kg, with a stubby tail. Since shedding afterwards – and how he shed means he’s reasonably healthy and content- he has refused all food, but is happily zipping about and has slimmed down, revealing a pointy tail. We’re following advice and he’s otherwise well, but we’re all watching to see how he identifies with keen interest.

Watching snakes feed is fascinating to visitors, so they can be easily overfed and can become acclimatised to expect larger or more frequent meals. Overfeeding young causes a bigger, chunkier, faster growing but short-lived snake. So it is possible that Monty may be transitioning down to his proper size and shape. This realisation partly came about after finding another same age royal python was eating meals 5x the size of Monty’s and when finding that Monty’s behaviour suggests he’s been previously fed live food (which for Monty in the UK is illegal).

The petshop and I noted that the missing information when any pet is rehomed could indirectly cause further excitement. Monty and the 2yr old snake were brought in as male at the same time and sold on as male as probing a snake can harm them. But before we got Monty we handled him to ensure that at full size we safely could. Whoever bought the 2yr old ‘male’ snake could be in for a surprise.