You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?

Oh WP DP, I love the moment when I read what it is you have come up with for us to ponder.

A cross country trip in the UK. Lands End to John o’ Groats is the most famous, one end of the UK to the other. 603 miles, 970km as a straight line between two points. By car the shortest distance is calculated as 837 miles. A long way by our standards. Nothing if you come from vast sprawling countries.This isn’t a trip I’ve ever done, or likely to do. I’m not a huge fan of sea travel, but a trip right around the edge of the UK I think would be awesome.

I digress. Back to DP. By bike? Nah, not gonna happen. As far as I recall I’ve had two. Once when I was around 11 years old and at the weekends would cycle miles, alone, uphill, to get to the stables where I could horse ride. I loved it! Midnight, he was called. But that ended when the stepmother decided I would be better off at home bringing her and my dad breakfast in bed followed by cleaning the house. Sad, but true. Thanks dad for that. What happened to my blue and silver bike, I wonder? I also had an old fashioned racing green bike with a basket on the front when I lived in Kew Gardens, a suburb of London. No idea where that ended up, either.

Train? Tis has been a very long time since I took a train journey, and I took many. Travelling for work interviews ( another story) or down to Cornwall to see friends.

Airplane? What fine memories I have of those days! Often lucky enough to turn left on boarding. I thank NA for those days. But its not something I have in my vision at present. I do want to go and visit cherished friends, but now I have this old boy, it’s not going to be possible. His past life has left him far too traumatised to be with anyone else, safely. But the day, his day,  his last day will çome.

That leaves me with my car. I love the freedom it allows us. To stop and start, come and go at will, on a whim. The only way I can get said dog from A – B, without any hassle.

A journey this afternoon was horrible when I hit a dawdling pheasant. I wasn’t going that fast. But sadly he wasn’t fast enough. I looked back through my mirror and could see him floundering on the roadside. I turned round to go and see him. It didn’t look great. In the back of my car I had a soft single Indian print sheet, from the dog’s last adventure. I crossed the road and could ascertain quickly this beautiful bird was breathing, twitching. Had I hoped he was dead? A quick death. I scooped him up. Him? Yes, his magnificent colouring told me so.

Back in the driver’s seat of the car and swaddled in the sheet I held him to me. His breathing laboured. We sat and I waited. I like to think the warmth and the security helped him. I expected his breath to stop. I sat and we waited. Slowly he appeared to regain some strength. His eyes looked clear and alert and his breathing became more regular. When he shuffled about I didn’t want him to feel anxious in captivity so I  got out of the car and carried him deep into the hedgerow. As I put him down he seemed keen to get going but his tail appeared crooked and a wing held low. I felt I had made a mistake letting him go and clamoured through thick hedginging to get him back. When I finely broke through I was amazed to see his tail feathers had straightend and his wings in place. He toddled off, a bit dazed, but seemingly intact. I thanked the gods.

I was shaken up by this and happyI had a bottle of wine in my shopping bag. I couldn’t wait to get home and pour myself a nerve steadier. Which I did.

The last few days have been weird anyway… And then a pal asks how I am. I say ‘ pretty rubbish, actually ‘ or words to that effect. She goes on to tell me my oldest friend has been whisked from a small town to a city hospital with unknown issues. ……..Think he’s ok, for now

And there we are… You wake up. All seems good and then the shit hits the fan.

Are you superstitious?

One of my earliest memories is rabbit’s foot brooch pinned to the coat of someone I loved dearly. I never remember asking about it, but I studied it a lot. What is a child with an affinity to animals, to make of such a thing? I remember it was encased in silver and has a small yellow stone placed in the centre. Maybe Citrine. This yellow stone from the quartz family was popular in the 1920’s. Is it possible it had been handed down?

In ancient times Citrine was carried for protection against snake bites and evil spirits. In latter times to spark imagination, fresh beginnings and prosperity. Over the years being used against bad luck and today towards the good.

It is incredible how many countries around the world share superstitions, even with varying forms it’s quite extraordinary that similar beliefs are held worldwide. The exact origins of the rabbit’s foot amulet are not clear, at all. With many areas having their own ideas. There are some dark and grim associations but I prefer to look to the light. For instance the slaves of West Africa are recorded as seeing the animal as witty, intelligent and willing to strike back ( Think Mr McGregor’s garden). Others say the fertility aspect of their characteristic to be a lucky thing.

Am I superstitious? I’m certainly interested in all things spooky. A black cat crossing my path, that’s fine by me. ‘ Morning Kat’ I’d probably say. Would I walk under ladders? Why would you? To see if you are unlucky enough to have something fall on you head. Do I count magpies? No. Would I drop coins into a wishing well or throw them into a fountain? Yes.

And yesterday I ‘ touched wood’, to rouse the deities for protection.

Which animal would you compare yourself to and why?

If there are any words in the English language that make me instantaneously mad it’s these ‘ They behave like animals’. (Another utterance ‘We (UK) are a nation of animal lovers.) We are not! We are so not. But that’s a topic for another day)

Considering it is Man who is the cause of all the mess and madness we live in today, it’s a bit rich to bring animals into the equation like this.

I cannot compare myself to any animal, like we have been asked here on WordPress to do this morning. But there are are animal bodies I would like to inhabit for a short time,to get their take on things.

A dog doing the Zoomies, how great must that feel? A cat all cool and aloof, strutting around the neighborhood. Flying high with a birds eye view of the world. A cheeky monkey nimbly lowering itself onto a balcony of a smart hotel, where breakfast is being served and snatching away a juicy slice of watermelon. High jinks. Or maybe the hippopotamus up to the eyes in fresh and cooling water, on a hot summer’s day. Bliss.

And then not so much a magnificent elephant or a slender and graceful giraffe stood stock still eating fresh leaves from branches high up..dead in an instant by a ‘ trophy hunter’. Those oxygen thieves who delight and boast in slaughtering beautiful and innocent souls. These monsters walk amongst us.

In the UK you may hear someone being called a cow or a pig, these are not compliments,but used by man to discredit another human without a moment’s thought to the animal they are alluding to.

The Human Race? No, the Human Disgrace.