Detroit

[DetroitOtherday]

Hello?

A townie - how very dare you

We are semi-rural I'll have you know

I am a townie through and through... (Shudders at the memory of being left in charge of a friend's small holding - including animals - for the weekend. She didn't make that mistake twice. Thank god for cattle grids.)

Hi Detroit. Here's hoping that the lived experience of women (particularly you!) is given as much importance on your thread as the arbitrary rules of others.

Solidarity from the OP of another support thread.

*Kentish village. I think I'm safe saying that. I don't really venture out into the countryside after dark so I'm fairly safe from our badger wildlife...

Afaik British badgers don't go around spontaneously attacking people, but would defend themselves if people try to interfere with them.

They're lovely shy creatures

One killed a tortoise of mine when a friend was looking after her

There we are - tortoise-icidal maniacs, every last one of 'em.

(Sorry for your friend's tortoise, though.)

Fermats, please tell me you weren't the MNetter who looked after the friend's smallholding who was chased through the forest by some demon of the night? As told on a spooky story thread?? That was my fave spooky story ever.

Oh, that's sad... Probably the badger thought it was a giant snail lunch.

One killed a tortoise of mine when a friend was looking after her

Oh no! Bad badger!

No, I was chasing the goats. Who got out. (Never trust a friend's assessment of her goat's stupidity. She blithely said "the battery's flat on the electric fence, but don't worry, the goats are too stupid to have realised." Her goats turned out to be members of fucking MENSA).

I know zebra!!!!

And she would have been asleep minding her own business

Sorry Detroit - we've hijacked your thread into random animal anecdotes. Hope they're at least some light relief from the shit you've been through recently.

Oh goats, fucking hell. I'd rather be in charge of 101 labrador pups, I think....

Having said that uk badgers still look cuter than American ones

All the mumsnet love is here for you, Detroit - hopefully the talk of the English semi-rural countryside is engaging and diverting for you

This thread was at least in part to move the random wildlife off the erasure thread, I thought. Though IMO it improved it no end.

It's perfect! Maybe I can take a few photos of Chipmunks. I've seen flying squirrel here too, which are unreasonably adorable.

Robins in North America are agressive lardasses. Not cute and small.

Chasing goats never gets anywhere good. Perhaps the English badger has been watching YouTube of his American cousins and felt he had something to prove!

Your blackbirds are cooler looking though, with go-faster stripes. I've forgotten if they're as good singers ( I lived in PA for a couple of years ~30 years ago).

Yay Detroit, good to see you here, glad to hear you're relatively safe and comfortable.
I meant to post this on the other thread but it got full.
I LOVE Blue, it was one of the first 'proper' albums I bought as a kid, but I lost it about 20 years ago when someone destroyed my vinyls (on purpose) and it had too many bad memories attached to it so I never replaced it. You've inspired me to get a new copy, and when I listen to it I'll now be thinking of you instead of the arsehole who destroyed my stuff

Female only communes where older women are not devalued. I think that would be a great way forward.
I've been reading about community housing for older women in the UK. Apparently the demand is huge, I'm not sure how affordable the existing ones are but I think we are going to need lots of these types of housing solutions in the future. It makes total sense.

Oh and I grew up in the wilds (Europe, not America, but not the gardens of Kent either!), encountered bears etc. as a child, and I would categorically not trust a badger.
As for goats, I've also had the unfortunate experience of looking after someone's smallholding, and they are the most satanic animals I've ever encountered. I have the scars to prove it.

The first time I went to the (now closed) village shop when we moved here, a goat tried to mug me for my bag on the way home. Fortunately an old bloke appeared who knew where it had escaped from and led it away.

Hi Detroit. Yes female communes for elderly ladies are what I'm hoping for when the time comes. Life can be tough can't it? but then you see all the words written on this page by women from all over the world (just about) and you realise that maybe you're not totally alone. Really feeling for you just now and hope you find somewhere safe soon.

Errol, we live in what used to be a "village shop" in the 50s. Its now been converted back into a house - but we still have the cool cellar - although it fills up with water in the rain. One day - we will get round to converting it into a room, I swear.

Bears you say? - ooh blimey. Puts badgers into perspective.

I believe you Errol. My friend's goats worked in a pincer movement to ram me down when I went to feed the feckers.

There are many men I like, and I've been happily married over 30 years now - but I increasingly find myself wanting the company of women, and if I didn't have DH I'd like a place in the commune.