I am not a romantic - but Valentine’s Day I decided to show my love through the medium of food - and planned to cook up a feast for Zoe - and our boy (adult!) Pip. The evening did not go as planned!
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Who Gives a Crap - a phrase that has been used to advertise loo roll very effectively - and also one that really speaks to me … I try not to generalise - but I guess if you are reading this you do ‘give a crap’ - you do care enough to do something.
I guess I have always had that urge … as a kid I cared … I worried - I did a project when I was around 13 called ‘Give Animals A Chance.’ I think I probably just copied out the anti-vivisection leaflets I had got hold of - not much original thought, but a passion to get cruelty exposed.
Later, as I learned more about ecology, the great interconnectedness of all things became my passion. Yes - I spent a lot of time studying hedgehogs, but this was because they were part of the great web (I started this before there was a world wide web!) of life. But I never got fully immersed in the world of academia - the obstruction being a heart that cared and a mind not clever enough to compartmentalise!
So I have done my best - helping hedgehogs through words more than action - supporting and encouraging others.
Back to the feast. Roast potatoes - I had already par-boiled them (in a little bouillon) and left them to cool while we walked the dog. Out in the park we met a dear friend who had lost her mother recently - they were about to go to the cinema with their wife to watch a film that would make them cry … so (after careful assessment of the situation - i.e. I asked Zoe first!!!) we invited them to share the feast.
Leeks in cheese, milk, butter (this was not a vegan meal), and a mushroom and red wine gravy, a quorn roast and some broccoli and lots more wine. It was lovely - a great catch up.
Our oldest was away at a friend’s so I did keep an eye on WhatsApp … and saw a note pop up on our street group … a very poorly fox had been seen down the path near us.
None of us were in a fit state to drive to St Tiggy-winkles … so I called and found that they would send someone out if we managed to find the fox.
Coats on - and the most remarkable gauntlet gloves for me - an old fleece blanket and a large box … this is where Who Gives a Crap comes into the story … but I had not clicked on the significance at this stage.
Looking where it had last been seen, we could see no one. I saw a torch down a different path so we went to see if they had noticed anything and found two young lads - looking for the fox. They had been dog walking earlier, seen it, gone home to swap dog for food and water and come back looking … they ‘gave a crap’!
Zoe called - she had found our fox - it had dragged itself into the primary school playground. Torchlight revealed a sad sight - too far away to see any details of damage but just a fur ball that was clearly in distress. It moved a couple of metres and then stopped again, occasionally twitching.
I called St Tiggs again - they could not send someone into the school … I asked if they would come if we got it out … yes. The fence was far too high to climb, but when the ladders arrived … well, I had had just enough wine to think I could do it, but not so much as to make it very dangerous … I hoped! As I swung my leg over I looked at the three women … ‘why am I doing this?’ I said as the top of the fence and the more sensitive bits of me came into contact …
Zoe followed - more flexible than me - with the box and blanket.
The fox was hardly responding to my arrival - I gently stroked their flank and there was barely a ripple. But, it was still alive.
I put the blanket over the animal, and scooped them up. This was not a fox who had been wasting away - and the coat was thick and lush, I can only imagine it had been hit by a car and had dragged itself nearly 200m to this point. Into the box and then I lifted it over to the others. Zoe captured it on film! We were all quite emotional - and by now aware of the significance of the box!
Back around the dining table, we waited for the ambulance to arrive - and it did in good time. We will not know what happened to our fox for another day or two - but I imagine it will have died. At least it will have been warmer than it was, belly on the cold concrete of the playground.
The progress of our adventure had been followed on the WhatsApp group … one person wrote,
“Epic! A classic Florence Park moment.. the wonderful WhatsApp group - sends out an alert (well done Siris!) and our resident squirrel/hedgehog/ robin whisperer ecologist despite having had too much wine gather up friends with ‘who gives a crap’ box, stepladders and a Harry Potter blanket and rescue a sick fox. All of course captured for posterity (-and the rest of us!-) by the resident documentary /activism filmmaker!!!❤️❤️❤️ - What legends you are Hugh and Zoe!”
Who Gives a Crap? We do! And also - if Valentines is all about love, who is to say it should be about just the one sort of love? There are many sorts of love out there from friendship to self-love, from universal love and love of nature. So let’s all commit to the unashamed giving of a crap - if someone needs help, help.
Thank you for all your support - please share - the update and also any examples where you too have given a crap! I think we should remind the world that on the whole, people are good and caring!