Monday, October 22, 2007

In Praise of Squirrels

We like squirrels.

They hurtle themselves about, in fluid movements of fur. They scamper from branch to branch, stopping to do curious things with their little paws. They bounce across the grass as they look for nuts! They are cute and watchable.

Possibly it comes from growing up in a country where there are a lot of cane toads, bush turkeys and a variety of eerie looking lizards, all of which are really irredeemably ugly. Not to mention a large collection of other animals which will attempt to kill you or cause structural damage if accidentally upset. Squirrels are neither ugly nor particularly aggressive (though we did hear of someone who was attacked by one, but when we heard the circumstances, our sympathies lay with the squirrel). Nor are they as noisy and tiresome as say possums, whom most of us meet in the middle of the night with a broom, trying to stop an unholy racket so we can get some sleep.

It may be that squirrels have an odious personal habit which will change our good opinion, but for now, we would like to express our appreciation of this lithe, bounding, interesting creature. JMB

3 comments:

/Karen/ said...

Oh, I miss the northern hemisphere! Not the cold but white Christmases, central heating, vivid blue skies and squirrels. And chipmunks. Not raccoons, though—they used to knock over our garbage.

Nice to hear that England has nice things too! Maybe I've been listening to too many people complaining about it ...

Karen Smith said...

Hi Mark and Jennie,

Glad you are settling in well. Karen and I return to the UK from Moore on 12th December. I spoke briefly to you, Mark, about speaking at my induction service, in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. The date has been set for Saturday Jan 12th. Do you have an e-mail address I can contact you on? Mine is theravs@optusnet.com.au.

We like squirrels too. The kids love watching them scuttle up and down the trees and along the fence at the bottom of the grand-parents garden.

Ian said...

When Laetitia and I saw squirrels, we used to ask each other, “Is it a wave or a particle?” (Because of the way they move so quickly across the grass in that beautiful fluid motion.)