Bunnies

I have no idea whether the bunnies and the sunshine are connected, but yesterday we had sunshine and such mild, springlike weather that I had to leave the doors open, today we have bunnies. Five, we counted five, all out there gamboling.
We don't think they have suddenly and mysteriously appeared from Outer Space. Oh, no, sorry, that is what we think. Consider the Nature Park as Inner Space, then someone from outside is helpfully dumping their pets on us. A bunny, apparently, IS just for Christmas. By Easter they get shoved out the door with not so much as a red and white spotted hankie on a stick.

I was mightily amused by the concept of the village in Thetford, Norfolk, not far from where my sister lives, that is used for training troops. Originally set up as a German village, it has now been transformed into a replica of Basra. Islamic calls to prayer and the sound of angry crowds is broadcast across the village.
Locals seem amused that the army can be so easily duped. A little German village with church spire and all can be made to feel like the Middle East by the sounds broadcast.
Still, that aside, it's brilliant that it is there for training purposes, it's just .... Thetford? This part of the English countryside is so....English countryside.

As though it were some new and amazing piece of news, the Guardian yesterday reported that all primary schools in Britain are to teach modern foreign languages by 2010. Duh. I had spent a year going to meetings and making the first preparations for this before I left in 2005, the idea being that primary schools didn't actually have linguists, whereas secondary schools did and could do outreach.
Still, glad the Graun has caught up.

In Canada, we are looking forward to a bumper maple syrup harvest this year. Still, that's in Ontario, it doesn't really have much of an impact on BC. Despite having half the population of Britain, Canada remains a country divided. We can't assume that when one part of the country does well, the whole country will feel the glow. Probably the most bonding thing Canadians do is watch Corner Gas, and who was on it as a guest last night? Why our very own Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. He read his lines well, even parried a little joke against himself.

I am totally loving this, children in 14 schools across Britain will be introduced to books with gay and lesbian characters. I really, really like this one,

"Spacegirl Pukes
A little girl who is about to set off on a space mission falls ill. Her two parents, mummy Loula and mummy Neenee take her home to look after her but then they fall ill too. When she recovers, the spacegirl puts back on her suit and goes on an adventure to space."

So, no cow-towing to eejits who don't believe God is capable of inventing science, no protests over someone mentioning polar bears, just get the hell on with it, this is how it is, get over it. Nicely played.