Rachael McKelvey

• Rock Dad get his eaglet
• Parisians voters opting to ban e-scooters
• An evening with Russell Jones
• Taking a hedgehog to the hospital
• Avoiding the news

Rock Dad gets his Eaglet
In March you could barely move online for the news of a 31 year old bald eagle called Murphy and his rock, because the World Bird Sanctuary had to put a sign on Murphys enclosure explaining to passers-by not to be alarmed if Murphy was on the ground, that it was “not hurt, sick, or otherwise in distress” the reason being that “He has built a nest on the ground, and is very carefully incubating a rock!”…the sign goes on say “We wish him the best of luck!”

Well, this week Murphy met his Eaglet…Murphy was a dedicated rock Dad to the distress of the other eagles in the enclosure, so the decision was taken to move him to his own private enclosure and on the same day an orphaned eaglet was surrendered to the sanctuary and the rest his history. Murphy met his eaglet, and their bond began, and Murphy has proved to be the best chick Dad you can imagine.

Parisians vote to ban rental e-scooters from the capital
An overwhelming 90% of votes cast opted for a ban on rental e-scooters in the city in a referendum on the matter following the rise in numbers of people involved in accidents and killed in the French Capital. With a population of nearly 1.4 million people based on the electoral register only 8%, just over 100,000 people took to the ballot.

Paris was one of the first cities to adopt electric vehicles to boost urban transport options and reduce emissions and while all forms of rental vehicles are fundamentally a good idea, practically I completely understand why Parisians that voted did vote to ban.

In Milton Keynes we have tiny delivery robots (the best) that use the paths, no place is immune from curb mounted cars, and we have a growing amount of abandoned scooters and bikes cluttering up the paths making it hard for people to move around, even with an amazing cycle network which you would assume would mean better assimilation, but no, I understand the frustration.

An evening with Russell Jones

I don’t think you can be on twitter these days and not know who Russell Jones is, the moderate mild-mannered project manager and proud dog dad from the north, who just used to catalogue all the mad things the government had managed to achieve in a week in twitter threads, arguably before the government got as mad as they are now. They were always perfectly curated and backed up with sources and were very much a highlight of my week in the early days…but as with most things in the last decade they come with a side dose of absolute despair. When the weekly thread tipped out at 120 mad things in just one week

Turns out Russ had enough material to create a book and so The Decade in Tory was born, Russ graced the south with his presence last night for Milton Keynes Literary festival and what a lovely evening that was. Russ read an exerts from both his books, talked about how a working class kid from the north found himself writing the book and how his upbringing has influenced his ability to always find the humour…even in the Toriest of times. Russ has a new book on the way, Four Chancellors and a Funeral to bring the decade up to date and having heard a preview, it’s one also not to be missed.

Taking a hedgehog to the hospital
Today has hopefully concluded a briefly stressful time amongst our neighbourhood wild life friends, which started last Monday with a hedgehog in the road at about 9am and while not always immediately alarming…proceeded to become rather alarming when it appeared to only be able to walk in circles & then it started to rain.

A quick google just to check TiggyWinkles took walk ins while creating a makeshift cardboard box home complete with towels and my as yet mostly unread weekend newspaper. Alas one miss step from me in an attempt to get him boxed and he scurried off into some scrub but I had taken enough correct steps to determine he was blind and hungry.

The only heart being that he was least out of the road, fast forward to Wednesday morning when there is a notification from the camera in the hedgehog feed station in the garden and its Mr Crusty Eye out once again in the day at about the same time. A back and forth with TiggyWinkles confirmed they would want a hog in his condition to check over and then the fun really started. The box was ready, we just needed Mr Crusty Eye to return.

Queue a mad dash downstairs in pyjamas following 6am phone buzzing on Sunday and he is in the box, a quick slide of the box up to the wall and he now cannot escape, and he is safely transferred into the cardboard box, where he immediately balls and then loafs on the towel. Safely delivered to a local hog rescue, who will get him to the vets tomorrow. We have requested that if he is eligible for a return to wildlife that we bring him back home where he belongs.

Avoiding the news
I know this is like Wellness 101, remove the constant negativity that is the news, news in the format that we consume isn’t inherently good, you have to search out the stories about Rock Dads and very much will always remember exactly where you were as a teenager when you got to watch hundreds and thousands of people die when the planes crashed into the World Trade Centre, you get endlessly mocked for wasting your time online finding the former but somehow praised for being on top of all the harrowing things

I haven’t intentionally been avoiding the news, but it happened as a by-product of having a fortnight absorbed in a podcast series, two books and some TV shows, it has also come about by not spending 3 mornings a week in the same house as my partner, who loves to put the news on when he gets up and I prefer the radio and or sleeping long enough to just do the bare minimum for starting the working day.

All this extracurricular activity had the upside of reducing my news summary options as well, social media usage was also down and other podcasts did not get a look in and while this all seems great and I am sure there are some people out there who would be like this is amazing and has changed my life, I definitely feel less connected, less like I know what is going on and while I think that’s nice for a while, it definitely feels too long and a bit jarring for me. Am I more than happy to step back for a couple of days? Yes but could this be my life? Absolutely not. Normal service will be resumed.

Current watch:  Wellmania – Based on the book of the same name Celeste Barber brings to life of Liv Healy a 39 year old women who returned home during a health crisis who is lead to trying anything she can to be well so she can return to New York to advance her career. The cast are incredible, the story line probably rings true to most women in their late 30’s and is well worth 8 episodes of your time, you’ll laugh a lot, you’ll die of a little bit of the cringe and you might find yourself welling up a little bit too.

Current read: Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell – An absolutely fascinating and entertaining guide through the history and origins of gendered language, the book holds no punches in places, in then language it looks to explain but does the perfect mix of history, culture, science and humour. The answers the book provides illuminate the path of the actions to take to affect real social change. The book is brash  but even if you are not a fan of curse words it still is an important and recommended read.

Most Impactful Listen: New Economics Podcast – How we can all have a home – Regular host Ayesha Thomas-Smith was joined by Kieran Yates and Vicky Spratt to talk about how private renting became to prevalent, why tenants rights are so precarious and how this impacts the ability to make a home. Vicky is the housing correspondent at the i newspaper, author of the book Tenant and tireless housing campaigner and Kierans book “All the Houses I’ve Ever Lived in” that is out soon really acts as a rallying cry for change following the highs and lows of navigating a housing system in chaos. Both contributors bring a depth and richness to the conversation from different perspectives that too often get overlooked.