Summer in the City

So as summer has come and gone and come and gone and come and… well, we all know how the weather has been the last few months, climate change for the UK it seems means more and more wetness. What you don’t know is what we have been up to at Anarres. Well, it has mostly been birthdays and birds. We celebrated four of our co-op members’ birthdays in two months, and now that our little they-by is two, they’ve started being invited to other kids’ birthdays as well. We aren’t quite up to a birthday a weekend yet, but with pickle starting nursery for 15 blessed hours a week in September, we can surely expect more bouncy castles and non-vegan cakes being pulled out of sticky fingers in our future. Oh, and having to run quickly away when the birthday song starts up, as for some reason little ‘un bursts into tears whenever they hear it.

On the birds front, we have rescued two in the last quarter, one magpie found and took to a vets, and a baby seagull that splatted on the ground between us, after having rolled off the roof. Luckily the chick was fine, and we managed to get them back to their family, although the rescuer then got attacked by them after alerting the oblivious parents to the chick by cawing; seeing a human so close, they clearly decided they were a threat, and began a dive-bombing campaign, resumed every time they left the house. In the end, the gulls were outsmarted by a change of clothes.

Co-op work-wise, new folks’ trial periods are up so they’re officially full members. We demolished the 80’s-style patio wall and built-in BBQ which well-evoked some of our childhoods, and the garden now seems so much bigger and more open, so we’re all delighted. We even managed to hire a skip and get rid of loadsa garden junk, which is another step towards acquiring the massive uber-shed of our dreams. We’ve also been busy safely removing flaky lead paint from various mouldy corners.

It’s been a busy but happy few months. We hope the Radical Routers among you get to enjoy a bit of our lovely city when the Gathering brings you by.