Yesterday, walking into the village with the small boy, we spotted our local heron in the river. The small boy was delighted to see him take off and land a little further along, only to take off again. Recently we’ve usually seen Mr Heron standing under the bridge in the centre of the village, clearly on the lookout for fish. We’ve even seen him after he has successfully caught some. We are lucky that our bit of the River Tame seems relatively clean.
Pollution in our rivers is a problem that appears not to be going away. I found this post on the “Campaign to rejoin the EU” site:
"In March the following year, in a speech to something called Prosperity UK, an excited Gove even promised: “Brexit, with the right decisions, can enhance our natural environment.” Meanwhile, in June this year, the River Roding Trust reported: “Our local heron on the Roding has changed its behaviour in the last few months; standing with its back to the river looking at the bank, rather than surveying the water for fish. Today we found out why: the lack of fish in the river has apparently made it hunt rats instead!” Maybe, as a celebration of the Brexit freedoms and new environmental opportunities his Brexit campaigning won us, Michael Gove should be made to stand on one leg on the edge of a polluted river and eat rats as well. I am sure he has ingested more deadly substances than mere rat. There is no record of how the River Roding heron voted in the EU referendum, but it is said to be looking forward to the abolition of EU regulations that restrict vacuum cleaner power to 900W."
River pollution: just another problem that they hope will go away on its own. It rather sounds as though that might be the attitude to crumbling concrete in schools, despite “brave” promises to “spend what it takes”.
They don’t know how much it will cost but there are already scary headlines about no cash being available. And then the problem is made worse by the fact that some schools still have asbestos problems which will be revealed as dodgy concrete is removed. Oh, boy!
Added to my list of moans and groans today is the mental health problem. I sometimes wonder if there are really more problems than there used to be or if we are just mor aware of them. But here’s the latest I’ve come across:
“Britain’s food bank charities are buying in counselling, GP and mental health support services to help staff and volunteers cope with stress and exhaustion triggered by the explosion in demand for emergency food.
The wellbeing services are a response to a rise in burnout and stress among frontline food bank workers as they deal with expanding workloads and the emotional burden of supporting increasing numbers of destitute and emotionally traumatised clients.
More than 2,000 Trussell Trust food bank staff and volunteers can now access a package of health and wellbeing support, including help with compassion fatigue, mental health first aid, face-to-face appointments with GPs and counsellors, and access to a helpline provided by the Samaritans.”
How did we let the country get into this state?
Trying not to be too gloomy!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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