An Oystercatcher's Advice To Greeks, Government and Greed

Remember this?

It was only a few days ago.

Floods.

This is the end of the good weather, after an unusually warm and sunny March. As April turned into the wettest on record and May tried hard to beat it and even produce a few frosts and snow, Britain became a grim place. People walked around with long faces, thoroughly depressed, as if the world was coming to an end.

Naturally we blamed it all on the Greeks, Angela Merkel and Socialist Europe.

And now look. Everything has improved overnight. The days are sunny and warm. The people are smiling. The overcoats have been ditched in favour of khaki shorts, short sleeved shirts and summer dresses. There is a spring in their step. Ivory white skin is turning to a shade of cooked lobster.

But not all is good. Britain is still grim. Looking at the news is enough to make you dive under the bedcovers. Doom and gloom and yet more impending doom. The retail sector's figures were worse than expected. The cause?

The weather....

and the Greeks, Angela Merkel and Socialist Europe.

The answer to happiness and prosperity? To shop more. To spend our way out of trouble. To buy yet more useless things we possibly don't need. Consumerism rules. Accountants rule the world! 'Greed, for lack of a better word, is good' as Gordon Gecko said in the film Wall Street. 25 years later all the fictional cliches seem to be coming of age.

As age creeps up on me, I prefer to go for a good walk on the moors, rather than sit around and watch the gloom. Nature can give hope for optimism. Take this brave little Oystercatcher who tries to lead you away from her nest when you get too close. She's taking a chance to make sure new life will survive and grow. By leaving the nest her young are vulnerable. On top of a cairn she judges the dangers, before swooping, sweeping and hovering in an attempt to lead you off in another direction.

Admirable. You know exactly where you stand.

Perhaps the rest of the world should take note.