porky

walking round the Blenheim estate this evening, i noticed that i'm getting a beer belly: round and taut. horrible.

time to make a change: i've been neglecting my health and fitness. i need to start a new project -- operation pork lop.

nature notes

(from my walk in the dull, chilly evening.)

1. monster molluscs: the biggest snails i've ever seen in the wild, dragging themselves across the cut strip towards the road. i thought they were mushrooms at first: they had very pale -- almost white -- shells, and their soft parts were very pale grey, with hints of pale green and tan in places. the shells were -- ooh, that big: about two inches in diameter. you wouldn't want to tread on one of those in the dark...


2. marauding mammals: walking along, i could see a pale green apron of fallen leaves around a tree: it looked as though it was having its own private autumn. as i got closer, i could see individual leaves and lumps of foliage falling. looking up, i watched two squirrels darting about, stopping, and systematically eating their way through the leaf growth, after which they'd let the mutilated clumps fall to the ground. they were literally shredding the canopy. i couldn't work out what they were eating: i looked at some of the fallen residue, and could see a few caterpillars in amongst the buds; there were also proto-nuts embedded in the new growth. any ideas, nature lovers?