Easy As Falling Off A Bike pt 678.

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Wuthering Dormice
(aka Bike)
Part 678
by Angharad
  
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The girls came in for a drink and a biscuit and I told them they each had to read to me, as per the instructions from the school. They grumbled but agreed. They each read a chapter of Maddy Bell’s ’Anime days’, and they both did quite well in coping with ‘adult’ text. They also showed some reasonable comprehension of the stories and Livvie seemed quite happy for the Gaby/Drew duality to occur without too many questions.

She did query one point, “How come he says he doesn’t like wearing girls’ clothes but he always ends up in them?”

“I think he feels he ought to protest, but part of him likes it really.”

“How sensible,” she said, “otherwise he really would suffer, wouldn’t he, Mummy?”

“Suffer?” I queried.

“Well, yes, I mean if he like, really didn’t like wearing skirts and things, he’d be very uncomfortable, wouldn’t he?”

“I suppose he would.” I thought back to my first ventures in skirts, they weren’t particularly comfortable, especially in public. My first meeting with Simon, was a veritable nightmare—I spilt wine all over him, and fell over my own feet—so embarrassing. Now, I don’t take any notice. I wonder if Trish feels uncomfortable in the school dresses? I’m not sure she likes them particularly, but she hasn’t really objected either; seemingly accepting that they go with the territory.

“Doesn’t anybody recognise him?” asked Livvie, after a moment’s thought.

“Apparently not, presumably they’re seeing out of context, so they don’t realise who it is.”

“What’s context?” she asked.

“Let me see if I can explain it. It’s seeing something in its usual surroundings. So, if I was used to only seeing you in your school uniform, and then one day I saw you in your play clothes or even, your best clothes, I might not recognise you because you’d be out of your usual context. “I heard a lovely story about an ornithologist—that’s someone who studies...”

“Orniths?” suggested Trish.

“Birds.”

“What like sparrows and blackbirds?” asked Livvie.

“What like a birdwatcher?” asked Trish.

“Birdwatchers are usually ornithologists, because they study the habitats and things as well, so they can find the birds they want to see. Then, by watching them, you get to learn things about their habits as well as the places they live and feed, all about their mating habits and behaviours and if you’re really lucky, may see them looking after their young. Other ornithologists might catch them and ring them.”

“What on the phone?” Livvie asked, chortling.

“Hello, is that Mrs Blackbird?” said Trish and they were off, giggling again.

When they were finished, I continued. “Ringing birds, is about putting a metal or plastic ring on the leg of the bird, noting the number on it and weighing it; sometimes they measure size of wings and so on. All this is made a note of, and then the bird is released.”

“Why do they do that?” asked Trish, “seems like a lot of bother for nothing.”

“If the bird is caught again, then it shows how far it’s travelled. In some species like Arctic terns, they travel right around the world, maybe ten or twelve thousand miles.”

“So?” said Trish, “Who cares?”

“Lots of people, and really we all should. A couple of hundred years ago, they thought that swallows hibernated in the winter under the mud of ponds.”

“That’s silly, even I know that,” Trish asserted,

“So where do they go in winter?” I asked.

“Africa.”

“How do you know?”

“I saw it on the telly, why?”

“The film makers would only know that the swallows they were filming came from Britain if they’d been ringed here. Without that, you wouldn’t know, would you?” I challenged.

“You could always follow them,” said Trish and I could almost hear the wheels turning.

“They often migrate at night, and two hundred years ago, they didn’t have aircraft.”

Trish blushed and stuck her finger in her mouth and made a silly noise. That made Livvie laugh and I had to restore order by telling them off. Once things were back to sensible, Livvie asked, “Why did they think swallows hibernated?”

“I don’t know for certain, but people knew that some animals did, and even some insects.”

“Insects?” said Trish.

“Yes, some butterflies do, dragonflies and a few other species. Can you think of larger animals that do it?”

“Bears,” offered Livvie.

“Good girl, what about you, Trish, can you think of any?”

“Um, no.”

“What animals do I study?” I prompted.

“Dormice—oops,” she blushed again, “we saw them on the telly, too.”

“Squirrels do, so do hedgehogs and most bats.”

“What about balls?” quipped Trish, who was showing off, “don’t they hibernate too?”

“What about the swallows and the mud, Mummy,” asked Livvie again.

“I suspect what happened, was that people noticed they all disappeared at the end of summer, and they had no idea where they went, but because they make nests out of mud, as do house martins, they probably found the odd dead bird in the mud.”

“Why would they find dead birds in the mud, Mummy?”

“I don’t know, but swallows and martins feed on flying insects. They often collect over water, so the birds fly after them. Occasionally birds will be old or weak and be unable to fly and if that happens over water, they drown or fall in the mud, or they could have got stuck in the mud while collecting it for their nest.”

“That’s really sad, Mummy.” Livvie voiced her emotions and Trish actually stopped fooling about.

“I’m afraid the life of many birds, animals and plants is very fragile. Loads of migrating birds die on their travels, especially over seas or oceans or deserts. The Sahara desert is growing all the time and many birds have to cross it without a chance to feed or rest. Then there are man-made hazards, spraying chemicals or destroying woodlands, draining lakes or simply catching or shooting them.”

“People shoot swallows?” asked Trish in disgust, “That’s silly.”

“It’s disgraceful, but yes, they do it in several Mediterranean countries. Years ago, I nearly got into a fight with someone over it in Malta.”

“You nearly got into a fight with someone?” gasped Livvie.

“Yes, the man was shooting songbirds, or wanted to and my walking past his garden was preventing them from landing, so he got cross with me, and I got cross with him. He shouted at me in Maltese and I shouted something very rude back to him in old English.”

“Can you talk in Old English, Mummy?” Livvie seemed well impressed.

“Sadly, no, sweetheart, just a few words of abuse, like most adults. Many of the swear words we use, come from older versions of English, sometimes Old French.”

“My old mummy, used to say it was unladylike to swear,” Livvie looked wistfully into the distance.

“She was quite right, people who used to swear were called fishwives.”

“Do fish have wives then?” Trish was in interrogation mode.

“Yes, mermaids,” said Livvie and laughed. I chuckled too.

“Fishwives were the wives of fishermen, years ago. Generally, they lived very hard lives, and drowning was common amongst fishermen, so the poor women had to bring up their families with very little money. Often they lived in small communities near the harbours and in those days, lots of them drank too much gin. The combination of lack of money, poor education and probably a rough time with their husbands—husbands often used to beat their wives, in those days—made them rather foul mouthed.”

“Gosh, you know so much about everything, don’t you, Mummy?”

“Not really, Livvie, I’ve just been around a bit longer than you and had more time to learn things, plus I used to read rather a lot.”

“I like reading, too. I hope I’m as brainy as you are, Mummy.”

“Me, too,” agreed Trish.

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Comments

Nice conversation with

the girls. Hope Cathy's feeling good about it.

Context?

I might not recognise you because you’d be out of your usual context. “I heard a lovely story about an ornithologist–that’s someone who studies...”

How do we get from context to ornithology?

Damaged people are dangerous
They know they can survive

I try to keep the interactions real-ish

Angharad's picture

The story about the ornithologist just got forgotten during the exchanges. It might reappear, it's supposedly true and quite funny - well I thought so. It has to do with seeing birds in context to recognise them.

Angharad

Angharad

Peas, Pod

This was a fun chapter, seeing all of them interacting like that. The kids really do seem like a couple of peas in the same pod.

You know, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Trish has already told Livvie about herself, with the admonition, "Don't let Mummy find out that I told you. I'm not supposed to tell anyone."

Very Likely

That sounds entirely plausible to me.

The girls were not the only

The girls were not the only ones to learn things in this chapter, It even taught me a few things too!

I have to agree with Pippa's comment about Trish already having told Livvie about her little problem, It just seems like the sort of thing she might do After all Trish is clever enough to realise that sooner or later Livvie will find out about her secret!

Kirri

I can remember

far ranging discussions, like Cathy's having with Livvie & Trish, with both my daughters. Cathy shouldn't be surprised that both girls remember MOST (if not all) of the stuff they talked about here, and have it repeated to others. It happened to me... We have a policy of answering our daughter's questions as completely as they can understand, and we don't use "fun stories" when there's a real answer. Our older daughter asked (well it started here) why she had blonde hair like me, and not brown hair like her mommy, but had blue/green eyes like her mommy and not brown eyes like me... So we gave her a brief explanation of genetics... And how babies are made from a bit from the mommy and a bit from the daddy (no details on how the bits got combined... Luckily she wasn't, at 5 years, interested). Imagine our surprise, a few months later, to walk into the living room, where she and another fiend were sitting, quietly playing and talking, and our daughter was explaining genetics to her friend. And it wasn't just repeating the words - she used HER terms, and had obviously understood us.

So, like I said, these two young ladies both sound like sponges soaking up the information. Their questions SHOW they're understanding Cathy's explaination. Good Stuff. Looking forward to the time this (& stuff like it) come back out... :-)

Thank you,
Annette

Just a slip?

"to walk into the living room, where she and another fiend were sitting,"

I've often thought that about children, myself. ;-)

Damaged people are dangerous
They know they can survive

I COULD say...

that I spelled it that way to see if anyone actually READ my remarks... But that'd be fibbing. Here's the missing "r". :-)

I don't know if I'd ever say I thought either of my daughters were "fiends", but, they have been fiendish (or, as they prefer to say EVIL). LOL The older daughter's more like me, in that we both come up with the most evil/fiendish plots but neither would actually DO the deeds.

Thanks for the correction,
Annette

Strange creature...

“What about balls?” quipped Trish, who was showing off, “don’t they hibernate too?”

Is she referring to spherical objects used in various games, something else, or is this a typo?


As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!

In the context

Angharad's picture

of the previous statement, concerning bats, Trish was making a joke - bats and balls go together.

Angharad

Angharad

Oops!

I completely failed to spot that - although going back and reading the two lines, it's now obvious. Oh well...


As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!

Trish wants to be as smart as mommie? already done, kiddo!

As someone who played with both bats and balls on an organized level for ten years, I didn't get it until I read Ang's comment ! Of course, that can be taken another way. If Gabi wrote it, definitely.
I may be mistaken, but didn't the story of the near fight almost blow Cathy's secret ?

Cefin

Squirrels don't hibernate.

Squirrels don't hibernate. They spend the winter raiding my bird feeders. ;-)