HIS morning I finally (belatedly) began pavement-cleaning season. It’s a hard, tiring task, using metal brushes to remove a ton of dirt, moss, and sometimes birds’ poo. It’s almost done now (I’ll do a second – and hopefully final – pass some other day).

Today we’ll go visit the birds again. We nearly forget that we promised ourselves to do this. The birds at the park seem hungry and across the whole region I see them struggling to find food. They seem frustrated and desperate.

The struggle isn’t limited to humans, flora and fauna too can feel climate change. The lack of resources is a priority issue (competition), it seems like GAFAM and energy-wasting plutocrats are hoarding all the scarce resources while shattering the environment.

Cruelty comes in many forms.

was just reading your article “Less Shopping Centres, More Parks”, someone has told me, noting “the line about water shortages at the end.”

I said: “Water shortages are also becoming a matter of urgency across Europe. This is climate change in action.”

In IRC he shared “the good, the bad, and the ugly….”

It said (headline) “Europe’s Record Heatwave Kills 25,000, Dries Rivers, Shuts Nuclear Plant, Exposes Submerged Warships…”

“How Is the beaver population in the UK?” he asked. “What is happening in the USA might be of help” (The beavers returning to the desert).

In IRC I joked: “let’s build more chatbot centres, we need more chatbots, give them our water and power to cool down… the server, not the elderly… because… chatbots”

We are seeding our own collective destruction.

AM growing increasingly aware of the dietary needs of the snails/shells. They are multiplying fast and now they finish their daily meals within hours, not days.

I still have lots of food for them in store, but if they keep reproducing they will be “over capacity” in this tank. Then I’ll need to think about introducing another, bigger tank.

Those are not expensive though…

‘ve decided that, weather factors taken into account, it would be better to go feed the birds again, not visit Trafford Centre like we originally planned. Or go around Town this coming Sunday.

The birds at the park look very hungry, desperate for food. We want to prioritise them.

Water shortages are also becoming a matter of urgency across Europe. This is climate change in action.

T seems like the clouds reduced the heat somewhat, so 35 degrees felt more like 30 and we didn’t find apples today, only berries. Lots and lots of the latter.

We brought about 2 KG of premium seeds with us to feed the birds and taught the young kids to feed the birds, not to chase and scare them. Rianne gave fistfuls of seeds to about 6 young children, who learned that the birds are “friends”. It was a lot of fun, so we’ll come back there again on Sunday.

It’ll be a lot cooler in the coming few days. I got some strong tan throughout the day today and it felt like I was near the beach. How long before the sixth and seventh heatwave?

HEY say people choose pets that are like them or that pets become more like their owners (seldom vice versa). Maybe there is some “natural selection” in the mix (like selective breeding for a process favouring “domesticated” traits).

In the case of Bot and Bot’s Friend (our birds of choice), it seems like they’re very much like me and Rianne. Their character (low temper, polite) seems similar. As for “Sleepy”, she needs more training. Maybe she’ll get there eventually.

This afternoon we plan to go feed about 100 birds. There is a terrible drought and it affects them.

T seems like “Sleepy” the bird is improving at keeping good balance on the doorknobs and eating the seeds without jumping on the jar and flapping her wings like mad. Unlike “Bot” (Bottle) and her friend, “Sleepy” is a reasonably recent recruit and she doesn’t have good table manners. Sometimes she climbs on the doors, she is fearless about it, and this used to result in a mess (spillages). We began calling her “Sweepy” because she was sweeping the seeds aside instead of eating them properly.

Progress is being made by discouraging bad habits.