Published on 12, July, 2020
Does anyone else do this? I really hate suffering (also bullying) of any kind and this extends to saving worms drowning in puddles, snails in the middle of the path ready to be trod on, bees in the middle of the road and such like. Today I walked past a worm drowning in a puddle and had to turn back to go save it. Any kind of animal suffering means huge emotional turmoil for me, more so than any suffering of humans. I’ll think about it for the rest of the day. It also means I really struggle with adverts asking for donations and showing donkeys in awful states and whatever other animals they show. I have to turn it over as I can’t physically do anything to help them and get an awful feeling in my stomach.
I once got so concerned with the fate of a cockchafer beetle walking in the oily bit by where I was filling up my car with LPG, that I ended up forgetting to disconnect the hose before relocating the poor little thing. (Actually they are huge and scary looking, but it still was suffering, and in a bad place).
I can now attest that LPG pumping systems are designed to not explode when you drive off still connected firmly to the pump...
I also know that the hose will stretch to about 20 or so feet before the connection fails, but the noise it makes when it does is so unlike anything you've heard before it's possible to not actually realise what has occurred, turn around and see nothing that seems to require your attention, and thus drive the remaining 30 or so miles to your destination with morrissons fuel hose trailing on the floor underneath your trailer sparking away with the friction, but thankfully not spewing LPG out... (the first person who flashed me to a halt told me "your trailer is sparking mate", and I was puzzled when my electrical inspection revealed no issues..)
Despite the near death experience I still look out for the little creatures. Except the midges that come and bite me in the garage at sunset during certain periods. Gonna get industrial on those little buggers if they don't prove "deal capable" this year!
I rescued a cockchafer from a spider web once. It’s not like the spider would have been able to eat it, plus the noise that poor beetle was making trying to get away was unreal. They’re quite good at noisily dive bombing people too.