Disposing of pumpkins. Rain distribution. Knitting. And rabbits.

Well, that’s Hallowe’en out of the way for another year. As I ran in the rain this morning, I passed a near neighbour busily throwing pumpkins in the bin - in her general refuse bin too! Not even the green composting bin! So much for recycling and saving the planet! And why did her family need five pumpkins in the first place? 

Right! That the last I plan to write about Hallowe’en … until next year.

The rain cleared up not long after I got home, by the way! However, it had rained rather heavily overnight and the river was bouncingly full. My Spanish sister says we need to send her some of our rain as down in the South she has seen little more than a few drops recently. I suspect that my friends in Galicia would happily send her some of the excess rain they have had recently as well.The system for distributing rain around the world is definitely not working well.

We are busily running round gathering stuff to take to Portugal with us tomorrow, hoping that we might actually get a bit of warm weather but hedging our bets as to what kind of clothing to pack. It’s all part of the fun!

Once upon a time I might have thought of taking knitting on my travels with me. I have been known to knit on trains in the past, never on a plane though. And anyway 9/11 put an end to any idea of knitting on a plane. Knitting needles with their sharp points count as potential weapons. Here’s an article about how therapeutic knitting can be. 

Apparently it’s one of those activities that used to be considered old-fashioned but is now very trendy. I know a young woman who quite obsessively knits socks - she likes the challenge of turning a heel - and occasionally scarves in garish stripes. It seems there is a whole internet community where people swap information about techniques and discuss the pros and cons of metal or plastic or bamboo knitting needles. Who knew? As a lifelong knitter who began knitting blankets for toys at the age of 6 or 7 and completed my first proper garment at age 12, I find it really odd. I also have to smile admiringly when my daughter tells me even more admiringly about friends who have successfully knitted a hat or a scarf! So it goes! 

Years ago we read Marcel Pagnol’s Provence-set novels Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources where the hero plans to breed giant rabbits as part of his scheme to make his fortune - a scheme defeated by villagers opposed to helping outsiders even one who turns out to be related to them after all. That story is by the by but I was reminded of it when I read an article about giant rabbits, bred for size so that their meat could be sold, bred in very bad conditions (not at all like Jean de Florette’s establishment) and now rescued and looking for homes. The rescue centre has had an influx of rabbits lately, twice as many as before the pandemic. One explanation offered was that “this could happen when people bought a pair of rabbits from a high street pet shop mistakenly thinking they were both the same sex, which could lead to owners soon having more pets than they bargained for.”

I was reminded of a neighbour on the estate where we lived when I was a child. This neighbour allowed her rabbit to roam around from garden to garden, confident that this was a male rabbit. And then the day came when she called across the gardens to my mother: “My buck rabbit just had eight babies!” Oh boy, it must be very difficult to decide the gender of rabbits. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!