Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Best observed from a distance


The local authorities have invested in new school busses. The old bus was beginning to show its age in a sagging suspension sort of way. This morning the village children are collected in a brand new Peugeot twenty seater in arctic white.  The new bus also has a new driver. The gentleman who has driven the route ever since we arrived has been replaced by a stern middle aged lady who drives with her eyes straight ahead and her hands on the wheel at a text book 'ten to two' position.  She says something I can't quite catch to the two tikes as they board and head down the aisle to their customary position at the back. They ignore her, not so much out of rudeness, but because they don't start functioning like humans until later in the day. The tikes teenage sister sits at the front behind the driver, presumably in the aim of putting as much distance as possible between her and her siblings.


Excitement as we turn the corner onto the lane behind the church. A mole. Sophie sees it first. She stops, rooted to the path, and stares at it.  She is encouraged along.


The excitement of saying hello to the village children and meeting a mole take their toll. Sophie settles down for a much needed post walk nap.


Today the PONettes nap is taken on the cool grass under the box bush on the lawn. The first morning of the year when the suns warmth warrants being in the shade.


The start of 'The Fonts' Pasadena community college on-line tutorials means that breakfast conversation now revolves around issues like this :https://physicsworld.com/a/has-a-new-particle-called-a-leptoquark-been-spotted-at-cern/






8 comments:

Lisa in France said...

Your photo makes me realize I've probably never actually seen a mole (as opposed to the piles of dirt they create in my backyard), as all I can think of is "Wind in the Willows."

WFT Nobby said...

Same as Lisa here. What a precious sighting of Mole!
And yes, fascinating about zombie genes.
I'm trying to imagine Angus's contribution to the breakfast time discussion about the leptoquark...

Angus said...

On the subject of leptoquarks a furrow of the grow and an occasional 'hmmm' suffice to show some degree of interest .... no matter how minimal.

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari Om
Well, I was fascinated by the theory presented for leptoquarks... and mightily horrified at the paper mill situation. If two were not sufficient a third scientific read sealed the pre-breakfast brain digestif!!! YAM xx

Linda said...

Chapeau to The Font. I read the article and only understood words like "and" and "but". Perhaps the new bus driver was encouraging the tykes to behave in the back seat. Reminds me of one bus driver on our 10 mile bus journey to secondary school in Elgin. Fed up with the choice language and rowdy behaviour at the back of the bus, he stopped in a lay-by and shouted up the aisle, "sit doon on yer erses (arses) and be queat (quiet). Ah'll hae nae bloody swearin' on ma bus!"

Angus said...

That should be 'brow'.

10NISNE1 said...

Interesting articles! Zombie genes are both creepy and intriguing!

Emily and Laura said...

Leptoquarks are so far beyond my understanding, I'm with Linda in my comprehension (or lack thereof) of such material!

I've never seen a live mole. The closest I ever came to one was when I found the dead half of a mole that our dog at that time, a truly idiotic golden retriever, had eaten half of. Of course, we didn't know why he had such a terrible tummy ache, so off he went to the vet; and that afternoon, about $450 (USD) later, we learned it was just ... a tummy ache because my husband found the half a mole. Aren't dogs fun?

Sophie looks so peaceful, lying in the shade after all the excitement of her walk! Here in Florida it's been shade weather most of the time for several weeks now, alas. I really wish the hot seasons would take a bit more time descending on us each yet. And I must say that I really miss snow. Apparently it did snow here once, in 1977, and it's still remembered as a truly memorable occasion!