Section:GDN 1J PaGe:7 Edition Date:190801 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 31/7/2019 17:15 cYanmaGentaYellowbla
Thursday 1 August 2019 The Guardian •
7
Music is blaring and the sickly sweet
smell of vaping wafts over to where
my children have rolled up their
trousers to paddle. A teenage boy
dive-bombs off the bridge, into the
area past the old mill where the
River Tas runs deep and dark. I’m
transported back to my 15-year-
old self – I used to cycle here with
friends to drink cider, fl irt and swim.
Now, we’d rather have some peace
in this beautiful spot where the river
fl ows across the road. A labrador
chases a ball, dropping down into
the cool water below a huge horse
chestnut tree to retrieve it. The
fairy-like perfection of a banded
demoiselle fl its by, as if leading
us away. We follow the jewelled
electric-blue damselfl y downriver,
over the ford and beyond, where no
one goes. Here the water is less than
knee height and clear, showing the
gravelly bottom beneath.
A school of common minnows
has gathered in the shallows, we
count 27 but there are probably
more. It’s spawning time – a word
most children associate with
zombies on Minecraft, rather than
fi sh reproduction.
The females are muted brown,
almost perfectly camoufl aged,
while the males have changed
colour for the breeding season.
His colours become stronger , the
belly reddening, and white pimples
are developing on his head. These
odd tubercles are sloughed off
after breeding ; unlike teenage
spots in humans, they may help
with attracting a female and guide
positioning during spawning.
A male jostles a female, rubbing
up against her. After several hours
of this excitement, she will release
her eggs, which the male fertilises.
Spawning happens multiple times
in the summer months, and one
mature female can spawn about a
thousand eggs each year.
The word minnow , like minute
or miniature , implies the creatures’
size – these tiddlers are only
about 7cm long – but, having been
removed from the Oxford Junior
Dictionary in recent years, it now
seems a lost word from a bygone era.
My kids are content, paddling
and minnowing. In less time than
I can imagine, they may be the
annoying ones on the riverbank,
swearing and splashing, drinking
and smoking. Life, like a river, has
a habit of fl owing by.
Kate Blincoe- The proposed new nuclear station
in Suff olk would be Sizewell C not B as
an article said. Sizewell B is already in
operation ( Nuclear power reimagined - but still at core hideously expensive
and far from ideal , 24 July, page 31). - We listed the highest run totals
scored by England’s nightwatchmen
(generally lower-order batsmen) and
said Jack Russell scored 95 in August
- He scored 94 runs. Also, Alex
Tudor’s score in July 1999 was 99 not
out (Bright nights, 26 July, page 47).
Editorial complaints and corrections can be sent to
[email protected] or The readers’ editor,
Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU; alternatively
call 020 3353 4736 from 10am to 1pm Monday to FridayOutside a shop in this town, a sign
reads: “When you buy from a small
business you’re not helping a CEO buy
a third holiday home. You are helping
a little girl get dance lessons, a little
boy get his fi rst pair of football boots
and a mum and dad put food on the
table. Thank you for shopping local.”
Richard Titford
Sudbury, Suff olk- Jacob Rees-Mogg should be wary of
demanding use of imperial measure-
ments when most others use metric
( Rees-Mogg Esq bans metric, 27
July). Nasa’s $125m Mars Climate
Orbiter burned up in 1998 owing
to use of mixed units and failure
to take into account conversions
between metric and imperial. It
was eff ectively lost in translation.
Dr Roger Walker
Bradford - Could I suggest to Chris White
( Payments: Thousands without
mobiles could be frozen out, 27 July)
that he moves to the Co-op bank? I
have the same problem, but when
I emailed it to say I had no mobile
signal they said we could use email.
Mary Brown
Stroud, Gloucestershire - Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
is fun ( Letters , 29 July) but Through
the Looking-Glass and what Alice
found there is a far greater work. It is
a textbook of false logic; I thought it
was required reading for politicians.
Peter Jarvis
Deganwy, Conwy - Jessica Elgot ( Lib Dems avoid
Brexit in rural Wales campaign , 30
July) describes Brecon as an area
where sheep outnumber people 10 to
one. A more neutral way of putting
it is that it is a largely agricultural
area adjacent to the area of England
where the Archers is located.
Keith Flett
London
Your article about the iniquitous and
exorbitant fees charged by the Home
Offi ce for renewal of leave to remain
gives a clear account of the situation
( Report , 31 July, theguardian.com). I
am, however, disappointed that you
did not mention that many people
who have applied for asylum are
also caught up in this, having had
their asylum claim rejected and been
granted discretionary leave to remain
instead. So after suff ering hardship,
persecution and torture in their
own countries, made the diffi cult
decision to leave their homeland,
and struggled for years through
the UK asylum system , they too are
now caught in the DLR trap. The
government is making a huge profi t
out of people seeking a place of safety.
Guardian readers might wish to join
asylum and refugee support groups
who are campaigning on this issue.
Barbara Forbes
BirminghamEstablished 1906Country diary
Shotesham, Norfolk
Making classical
music accessible
Rees-Mogg’s rigidity
is every inch risky
Home Offi ce fees
and asylum seekers
Chi-chi Nwanoku claims “ classical
music is overwhelmingly white and
male ” ( Opinion , 27 July). Take a look
at the strings and woodwind sections
of your average professional British
orchestra and you will see that it
is approximately 50/50 men and
women. It is true there are usually
more men than women in brass
sections, but even that is changing.
I’m sure she’s right that there
are too few black musicians in the
profession ; the reason for this is not
race but class. To reach a professional
standard you need to have not just
talent but the opportunity to put
in the many hours of practice and
study required. Instrumental lessons
are no longer off ered in schools or
come at a price many people can’t
aff ord. Then there is the cost of a
decent instrument – hundreds, if not
thousands, of pounds. If you want
to address imbalance in the classical
music world you need to increase
opportunity for those without the
means to pay for expensive private
lessons. And that starts with properly
funded music teaching in schools.
David Williams
Southampton- I agree with Tim Ashley that
Haydn’s oratorio The Creation was
at times magnifi cent and that the
real stars were the BBC Proms Youth
Choir ( Prom 14: BBC Phil/Wellber
review , 30 July). What a joy to see
a choir of young talented people –
with an audience packed out with
their proud parents and siblings –
singing with such enthusiasm and
in exquisite harmony, momentarily
lighting up our discordant world.
But apart from the life-affi rming
music, the decision to perform the
oratorio in German really challenged
the audience – no dumbing down
here. When I later learned that Sir
David Attenborough had been in the
audience, I knew that my decision
to see a work I had never heard of
before was the right one.
Stan Labovitch
Windsor, Berkshire
[email protected]
@guardianlettersTwitter: @gdncountrydiary
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