Journal

Grisly fact in The Times today, which says that the population of European eels is now at 5% of levels recorded as recently as the 1970s.  Given their role in tripping me into environmentalism in the 1950s, the news was particularly shocking.  And the story of a tagged eel’s 1,200 odyssey is extraordinary. The data on the recovered tag that had plotted the eel’s journey from Sweden towards the distant Sargasso Sea suggest that it was eventually eaten by a shark west of the Shetlands, then excreted – at which point the tag was probably eaten by a gull and then re-excreted.  Finally, it washed up on the shore, where a passer-by found it.

Elaine and I had a wonderful lunch today at the British Museum with Rohini Nilekani and her friend, the historian Dr Ramachandra Guha.  Ram proved to have had a remarkably similar early journey to mine, describing himself as a failed economist who switched to sociology, with a strong environmental thread shot through much of his work.  

Afterwards, we had another wander around the Egyptian section of the Museum, which is on a level with the restaurant, and I was again left slightly breathless by the beauty of the funerary objects – though the exhibits speak of intense social stratification, always uncomfortable, wherever found. Have been somewhat sensitised by Sam to the extent to which many of the artifacts on display have been looted at some point in their life-cycles, sometimes serially. But, at the same time, what a joy to be able to see things like the Sutton Hoo treasure, which might otherwise be locked up in a private collection.

Yes, but will it fly? Charmian takes a closer look How to juice a car

Electric cars are all the rage suddenly, though very few people are driving them–and, despite the Government’s recent announcement of grants of up to £5,000 for purchasers, the prospects of electrifying private transport still remain fairly distant.  This is a complex challenge, requiring multi-dimensional strategies, as we discussed in our recent Evergreen session on the theme at the 2009 Skoll World Forum.  I took the images of the Juice Point in Berkeley Square when Charmian and I went to see Herta von Stiegel a week or so ago.  Eye also caught by bird sculpture in the Square Gardens.

Bird 1 Bird 2

Ginkgo cutting feeling a little hazy

Have always loved ginkgo trees–and cycle past several on my way through Grosvenor Square on my way to 2 Bloomsbury Place.  Sometimes take in leaves as they change through the seasons, but a few days back I took a twig–and we put it in a glass of water, with a touch of sugar, where it seemed to flourish.  Rather than having it develop a sweet tooth, I asked Sam to release the poor thing into the herbaceous border, in the hope that it might just strike root.  Her photo above suggests that it was feeling a bit woozy as it struggled to find its feet, but who knows?  A symbol, perhaps, of our constant struggle to make sense of this universe of ours–and of all the tides, current and eddies into which we find ourselves drawn.

Managed to deeply scratch my head on a fig tree, recently pruned and so sharp-edged, as I dragged fresh compost I had dug out of the heap this morning. The thing is so full that it’s blowing out one of the railway sleepers used to make its walls.  So action is overdue, if only I could work out how to do it without scalping myself.