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And now a story for our younger followers...
Hello, I’m Big Bear. I belong to a little boy (now 26 so not so little) called Adam. With the help of Adam’s mum, I’m going to tell you a short story about a little harvest mouse called Squeak. It’s called…
Little Squeak’s little adventure
Written by Adam’s mum (if you would like to see Big Bear telling the story, you can see the video here)
Squeak is a
little harvest mouse, in fact he’s so little he’s able to sit on an ear of corn
like this one without it even breaking. Squeak lives with his mum in a small
round nest, about the size of a tennis ball. The nest is made of intricately
woven grasses, suspended between long swords of grass carefully knitted
together. Squeak’s home is built on the banks of a dyke, near to the reeds and
blends in so well, that unless you were looking really carefully you would not
know the little nest was there.
Squeak is
incredibly inquisitive and curious. He likes to investigate every hole he finds
and every nest and every nook and cranny. Squeak has three best friends, Millie
the mole, Tarzan the earthworm and Noble the marsh frog, so called because
everyone thought he may be a prince that had not been kissed yet.
One day Squeak
was sniffing around, his whiskers quivering, nose twitching, swinging from
grass stem to bramble to reed, when he caught site of something glinting in the
long grass next to a footpath. He was a little hesitant at first because his
mum had told him not to go near footpaths, as that is where humans walk, but
his curiosity got the better of him, after all there was no harm in just taking
a quick look, was there?
Squeak scurried
over, hopping from grass to twig along the way, holding on with his tail to
help him balance, till he reached the object. Squeak cautiously approached it
sniffing the air. The object was round and hollow, wide at one end and narrowed
off at the other. It was made of a hard substance, which was cold to the touch.
“What could it be?” Squeak wondered. “What if it was discarded by a human?” he
thought. Humans often dropped things and Squeak’s mum had said never to go near
anything a human had dropped. However, Squeak’s inquisitive nature was fuelled
by the strange looking object. He wondered around it till he reached the narrow
end where he found a hole.
This opening
was just big enough for him to climb in. Squeak thought to himself, “Ooh, this
hole is just big enough for me to climb in.” By now Squeak was totally absorbed
in investigating this object and all his mum’s warnings had vanished from his
head. Without a moment’s thought, Squeak climbed in!
Squeak crawled
along, his little feet slipping on the smooth, shiny surface till he reached a
slope that led down into the wider part of the object. He could smell something
sweet down there, and without any hesitation, he slid down the slope into the
larger chamber. There he found some sticky liquid which he tentatively tasted. “mmm”
squeaked squeak. It tasted sweet and lemony and Squeak liked it, so he lapped
the rest up. After drinking the liquid, Squeak felt very weary, he curled up
and promptly fell into a deep sleep.
Squeak was
snoring away when he heard a rough voice calling his name. “Squeak, is that
you? Wake up!” “SQUEAK, WAKE UP!”
Squeaks little
head shot up, he felt a little disorientated, and then remembered where he was.
“Squeak!” called the voice for the third time. Squeak looked round, blinking
sleep out of his eyes and saw Noble peering in through the side of the object
at him. Noble’s head looked rather odd and big, it made Squeak giggle.
“Oh, hello
Noble, look what I have found.” Squeaked Squeak.
“It’s a
lemonade bottle Squeak, left by humans, you shouldn’t really be playing near
it, let alone in it!” exclaimed Noble, a little irritated at Squeak laughing at
him.
“Oh” Squeaked
squeak. “Wait there I’m coming out.” Squeak made his way across the bottle to
the slope he slid down earlier. He began to climb, but his little feet kept
slipping on the smooth, shiny surface.
“I can’t get
out.” Squeaked Squeak urgently.
“Try running up
it.” Croaked Noble.
Squeak went to
the back of the bottle and ran at the slope, he got halfway up before sliding
all the way down again, his feet desperately trying to get a grip. Squeak tried
several times but just slid down every time. Squeak sat down panting. “I can’t
get out, I’m trapped.” Squeak squeaked worriedly.
“Hold on”
croaked Noble. “I’ll come and get you.” Noble tried to squeeze his head in, he
tried to squeeze his bottom in, but whichever way he tried he just could not
fit through the hole. “I can’t get in.” Croaked Noble.
“Oh” squeaked a
now teary Squeak.
“Don’t cry.
Wait there, I’ll go get help, Millie will know what to do.” Said Noble trying
not to sound worried.
“I can hardly
go anywhere now, can I?” Squeaked Squeak a little flustered.
Noble hopped
off to find Millie.
Noble found
Millie playing hide and seek with Tarzan. Millie was a sleek black mole that
lived in the meadows surrounding the dyke and Tarzan was an earthworm. They
were darting in and out of holes in the ground. Being a mole, Millie used her
keen sense of smell and her whiskers to sense any vibration to find Tarzan, and
Tarzan being an earthworm, used his expertise at burrowing to hide from Millie.
Now normally moles love earthworms, usually to eat, but Tarzan was different as
he grew up with Millie, so Millie won’t eat Tarzan, much to Tarzan’s relief.
“Help, help.”
Croaked Noble urgently. “Help, Squeak is trapped in a human bottle.”
Both Millie and
Tarzan stopped playing and popped their heads out of their respective holes,
only it was hard to tell Tarzans head from his tail.
“What do you
mean trapped?” Millie said.
“Squeak is
trapped, he can’t get out of the human bottle, he keeps sliding back down the
neck.” Croaked Noble.
Millie slapped
her big digging paws over her mouth and Tarzan looked shocked, which is a
difficult thing to be able to do if you’re an earthworm, because you lack a
face, in fact Tarzan often found his friends talking to the wrong end of him by
mistake.
Noble croaked
“come quickly.”
Millie and
Tarzan followed Noble. They rushed along by either digging and burrowing,
sliding or hopping back to Squeak.
“Squeak” said
Millie softly, “are you OK?”
Squeak was
relieved to see his friends. “Apart from a banging headache and the fact I’m
trapped, yes, I’m perfect thank you Millie.” Even in times of crisis Squeak
remained perfectly polite.
“How are we
going to get Squeak out?” said Tarzan. “I can get in, but I’m not strong enough
on my own to push him out.”
The four of
them sat, stood and lay thinking for a while.
“I’m too fat
and not squidgy enough to get in” croaked Noble “I’ve already tried.”
They all
cogitated some more. “I’ve got it!” Millie said excitedly. “Tarzan, you go in,
Squeak, you hold on to Tarzan’s head, and we will pull you out by pulling
Tarzan’s other end.”
“That’s
brilliant!” croaked Noble, “I knew you would be able to help Millie.”
Millie blushed
modestly, but you couldn’t tell against her silky black fur.
“I’m not sure
about this.” Said Tarzan, thinking he had somehow drawn the short straw.
“Oh pleeeasse”
cried Squeak desperately. “please, please help me.”
“Oh OK” Tarzan
said pensively. So, in he went.
Squeak held on
to Tarzan’s head with all his little strength.
“ugh, cough,
cough, splutter, you’re strangling me!” Tarzan said in a very strange voice,
feeling his head bulging slightly.
“Oops, sorry.”
Squeaked Squeak. “I’ve been stuck in here for hours, I’m tired, hungry and have
a headache.” Squeak began to cry again.
“Oh, don’t cry”
said Tarzan reasuringly. “We’ll have you out in no time.”
Both Millie and
Noble grabbed Tarzan’s other end and pulled. Tarzan stretched, they pulled some
more, Tarzan stretched some more.
“Stop
stretching.” Croaked Noble.
“I can’t help
it!” exclaimed Tarzan a little embarrassed by being pulled at both ends. “You
and Millie are pulling one end of me, and Squeak has my head, what am I to do?”
“Try holding
yourself stiff.” Suggested Millie.
“Stiff?” said
Tarzan questioningly. He felt he would never live down the humiliation.
“yes, stiff, so
there is less give.” Explained Millie calmly.
Tarzan held
himself as taut as he could, he pulled a determined face, but no one noticed
because his face looked the same as his other end.
“Heave.”
Croaked Noble as he tried to encourage the others. “Heave, heave.”
Slowly, up came
Squeak, sliding bit by bit back up the neck of the bottle. All of a sudden
Tarzan sprang back towards Noble and Millie, and Squeak shot out as if on the
end of a bungy rope. Squeak, Tarzan, Millie and Noble all ended up in a tangled
heap together.
“I’m out, I’m
free!” Squeaked Squeak joyously as he hopped about. “Thank you, thank you so
much all of you” and he gave Tarzan a big hug round what Squeak thought was his
neck, only it wasn’t the right end and Squeak had actually hugged Tarzan’s tail
by mistake.
“Make sure you
never go near human litter and footpaths again!” croaked Noble kindly. “You
might not be so lucky next time.
“No, I’m never
going near human litter again.” Squeak Squeaked firmly.
And the four
friends went off to play hide and seek somewhere safely away from the human
footpath.
Now, this story
ended happily, but many small creatures are not so lucky and can’t get out of
bottles littered by humans, so please don’t endanger our wildlife and always
either take your litter home or put it in a bin. Remember it’s their home too.
Bye bye, see you soon
- A number of important documents have yet to emerge. For example, a rigorous transport plan and a finalised air-quality assessment. The latter is critical given that allocations at Teynham will feed extra traffic into AQMAs.
- There seems to be no coherent plan for infrastructure delivery – a key component of the plan given the allocations being proposed near the already crowded Junction 7.
- There seems to have been little or no cooperation with neighbouring boroughs or even parish councils within Swale itself.
The removal of a second consultation might have been understandable if this final version of the plan were similar to that being talked about at the beginning of the consultation process. It is, however, radically different in the following ways:
- There has been a major shift in the balance of housing allocations, away from the west of the borough over to the east, especially around the historic town of Faversham. This is a move that raises many concerns.
- A new large allocation, with accompanying A2 bypass, has appeared around Teynham and Lynsted, to which we are objecting.
- Housing allocations in the AONB around Neames Forstal that were judged “unsuitable” by the council’s own officers have now appeared as part of the housing numbers.
- Most of the housing allocations being proposed are on greenfield sites, many of them on Grade 1 agricultural land – a point to which we are strongly objecting.
Concerns about the rush to submit the plan
The haste with which the plan is being prepared is especially worrying given the concentration of housing in Faversham. If the town is to take a large amount of new housing, it is imperative that the policies concerning the area are carefully worked out to preserve, as far as possible, the unique nature of the town. The rush to submit the plan is likely to prove detrimental.
As Swale does not have a five-year land housing supply, it is open to speculative development proposals, many of which would run counter to the ideas contained in the current plan. Some are already appearing. This is a common situation, and one that, doubtless, is a reason behind Swale’s haste.
Our overriding fear, however, is that this emphasis on haste is ultimately going to prove counterproductive. This is because it is our view that the plan, in its current form, is unlikely to pass independent examination. We are urging Swale to listen to and act upon the comments being made about the plan and to return the plan to the council with appropriate modifications before submitting it to the Secretary of State.
Essentially, this means treating the current consultation not as the final one but as the ‘lost’ second consultation.
The consultation ends on Friday 30 April and we strongly urge residents to make their opinions known if they have not already done so.
Further information
