Back in the Jug Again

Nigel was on the wrong side of the law again on Thursday, at City of London Magistrates Court.

Back in September 2020 he got arrested as part of the Extinction Rebellion Protest outside the Houses of Parliament.

The occasion had been the first hearing of the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill, tabled by Caroline Lucas.  It is an attempt to take measures to stem irreversible climate catastrophe but the Government is against it.   By protesting outside parliament, the hope was to appeal to the consciences of MPs so they might support it.

Nigel sat peacefully in the road and refused to move onto the grassy area where the police were containing protesters in circumstances which made Covid social distancing almost impossible.

In court our lawyer tried out some new tactics and arguments.  Nigel, as always, pleaded ‘Necessity’ – he did something a bit wrong in order to prevent a greater harm – i.e. global heating and the deaths of millions.  But, the judge was disposed to find Nigel guilty.  His sentence was a suspended fine.

However, we got hit with high court costs – a new way of deterring Climate Activists from peaceful protest.

The Government plans to make things even harder with the Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill, 2021, currently being rushed through Parliament.  It means that next time Nigel (or anybody else) sits down in the road as part of a peaceful protest, he could be given a ten year prison sentence. 

Due to climate factors, we have cut out air travel to foreign countries.  But this monstrous Police Bill will give us the opportunity to experience what it is like to live in Hong Kong or mainland China!

Exam Season

 

 It's not the exam season - it's the teacher assessed grades season. The children are not sitting exams but assessments.

My memory of this time of year is having to choose between the streaming eyes of hayfever and medication which made me fall asleep.  I chose hayfever.

Nowadays the medication is much better.
However, what has not changed for the pupils is that this is the most beautiful time of the year, intersecting with some of the most exciting years of their lives and  here they are stuck in an exam room.

 Sorry, an assessment room.

And yet, most pupils don't really wrestle with a subject until they approach exam revision.  Maybe having that hard-won feeling of mastery over an area of knowledge makes it all  worthwhile?

 Certainly when I asked that question in class last week, one pupil said yes.

And for a class full of teenagers that is a high percentage of positive responses.

Photo by Museums Victoria on Unsplash

Making the most of Dystopia

 The last person time I went into London, before the Winter Lockdowns, it had been to meet Annabel.

We had an interesting day and couldn’t wait to do it again.

Except Lockdown meant we had to!

We finally met again on Thursday.  Had we waited one more week, museums and galleries would have been open. One more week and the streets would have been more buzzy.

However, we would have missed a slightly surreal day drifting around the unpeopled City of London, and picking out its history.

Outside the Guild of Cutlers’ hall, we admired a beautifully executed frieze showing the art of cutlery making and were given free guide books by a (probably bored) custodian. 

A Norman Foster building was being refurbished and we tiptoed across a flower-bed in order to press our noses to the glass and examine the amazing green wall being installed in the atrium.  Seeing a man inside watching us, we thought we were about to get in trouble, but instead he let us in and told us all about it – turns out he was the project manager.

It was easy to find an outdoor table for lunch, and to take our time.

Even next week, people in the City will not be at leisure as they were on Thursday.  It will return gradually to frenzy. 

So I’m glad we took the opportunity to explore Dystopia.

I identified a possible Covid health risk here.

Naughty Wildlife

Wildlife is good and we should make more space for it.

That's the mantra.
And of course I agree with it.
However, wildlife doesn't always respect our boundaries.

We love our garden and have designated areas for wildlife, such as the pond, the bird feeders and the bug houses. But recently some animal has been failing to read the signs - our lawn is dotted with yellow dinner-plate-sized patches.  The grass is dead where something has been weeing on it.
Similarly my parents love feeding the birds and keep the bird food in the side passage inside a sturdy plastic bin whose lid is secured by two strong rubber bungees.  Lately, at night, something has been efficiently removing the bungees and eating the bird food. 

We don’t think it’s a robin.

Our unruly specimen of wildlife turned out to be a mangy urban fox which marks our lawn as its territory.  Since it has also been seen bringing its cubs round to salivate over our pet doves, we felt less than amicable and moved the bird bath which used to help it jump our fence.

 When my Dad met their burglar, however, it turned out to be a very winsome badger.  Dad sounded rather charmed by it.  Perhaps I should see if I can get on the internet and buy them some badger food.  They can keep it in that handy plastic bin.