Sweaty Betty becomes Wet Bet

Hello Betty Badger Friends! The last two Thursdays at DEFRA have been quite trying for this Badger.  I thought that the 35 degree heat was bad but I have been nearly drowned for the last two weeks. Mary said it has been like standing  a car wash.  I didn't know what one of those was but isn't The Google Oracle clever? This is a car wash:

I got very wet paws...but there are advantages to rain. Firstly, Badgers love Worms- half our diet is made up of Worms.  When it is dry they go deep underground where we can't reach them so we get hungry,  When it rains heavily, they lounge around on the grass surface waiting for us to eat them.  Here is a picture of Worms that makes me feel happy and hungry.

Another good thing about rain is that it makes some Hupeople very kind.   Now, I have heard that Estate Agents have a bad reputation, but when I was standing in the pouring rain a nice Human came across the road from Garton Jones and offered me an umbrella because he felt so sorry for me.  See? estate agents do have hearts.  

And then two lovely Huwomen from Caffe Nero brought across a cup of steaming coffee for me and the cubs to warm us up.  They make good strong coffee, although it made the cubs a bit uppity.

After that a group of Huwomen came and talked to us and asked to have their photo taken with me.  Now that I have been on Woman's Hour I am a bit of a Celebrity Badger.  These Women are members of a group called Damesnet.  Mary looked at the internetweb and it looks like it is a club for very clever females who talk about things like Art and Politics and Cleavage. They were in London  for a Picnic,which means "eating outside".  So we Badgers have Picnics every day.  They said it was too wet to have a Picnic so wandered off laughing noisily having a jolly time.  I told Mary she should join them...

As we were going home we saw a young Huwoman in a pretty dress talking on her phone with water pouring down her face.  It had stopped raining by then and Mary explained that the water was coming from her eyes and she was crying. It seems that her heart was broken by her mate dumping her. So when your heart breaks water comes out of your eyes...  When my Brian was killed with the flash-bang sticks in the KillCull I probably cried too.

In Pimlico Tubeworm Station they sometimes have Hupeople without setts lying around but this week all the Homeless Hupeople's beds were wet and they had gone away to find somewhere dry to sleep. 

 

But we found a homeless Dog  in the station looking very sad.  He was still there whining on his bed when we came back hours later. 

Mary was in tears about these Hupeople and Dog, but the staff at Pimlico are kind and I'm sure they look out for Dog.  They even put uplifting sayings on a board every day to help the Commuters with heavy hearts.  

The security Hupeople outside DEFRA in Marsham Street are always very friendly and they don't send us away but one of them said to Mary that she was wasting her time and making herself ill standing around in all weathers .  Mary told him that since DEFRA won't stop killing Badgers she has to keep reminding people that the wickedness is going on.  I don't mind going with her and it gives the cubs a day out.

I promised to tell you how the cubs were getting on .  Benjamin, Bryony and Boniface are all grown up now and have their own mates.  They have their own chambers in our sett but come and see me often. The little ones Brian, Blanche and Buddha don't need my milk anymore, but it was touch and go when the weather was so dry because some badgers died as they didn't have water or Worms.  Luckily Mary has a pond and a supply of peanuts so we got through the dry season.

Of course I am very very worried about the announcement that Mr Gove will make any day now about how many Badgers he wants to kill this Autumn. Mary has been in correspondence with (which means writing to) DEFRA regularly.  She wants them to vaccinate Cows and and stop ALL cattle movements from counties where there is CowTB. They say there isn't a vaccine for Cows that is suitable.  Mary said that she finds it remarkable how Hupeople can send Humen and Huwomen to The Moon, manipulate DNA, create the Google Oracle and create Hucubs in test tubes and they STILL haven't managed to create a vaccine.  I think it is because they want to carry on blaming Badgers for TB so they have an excuse to Kill us.  Some Hupeople hate Badgers and enjoy killing us.

Oh, one final bit of news.  Remember how me and Mary went to the Conservatory Party Conference in Man Chester last year? 

Conservatory Party
Conference 2018

Well, this year it is in Birmingham where Mary has kin and she will take me up there with her.  We are contacting her MP Grant Schnapps to see if he can get us a ticket to meet all the MPs and talk to them about Badgers.  "In your dreams" some people might say, but if you don't have a dream, how will you have a dream come true?  

Our fan Tom who writes lovely poems and prose in the comments section after each BLog keeps our spirits up when me and Mary lose hope.  He makes us remember how important it is to save our Badger friends and to do what we can.  For older people like Mary she stands around and writes letters, while younger fitter people are already building camps in the KillCull zones  to save Badger lives.  We Badgers are so grateful  and glad that there are brave, wise and compassionate Hupeople on our side.  Thank you lovely Hupeople.

Night Night

Betty  🐾🐾