This person was driving with a big white animal, which I surmised to be a Pyrenean Mountain Dog. We were behind them for ages, trailing along in that terrible Boston rush-hour traffic, the dog's hair blowing softly like grass.
But when we finally went by, the dog turned into a large white stuffed animal of an indistinct species! I was shocked. It seemed to me that they were driving with something dead. Why would anyone want to drive in a car with a large white long-haired toy strapped into the passenger seat next to them?
People are cleaning oil-soaked animals with Dawn, which is apparently the best detergent for the job, because it is very hard on oil but soft on the animals' skin. Dawn has a secret recipe, but what is odd is that one-seventh of the liquid is made up of petroleum!
I wish they would stop pointing fingers and just get on with stopping the oil from gushing into the gulf. In America, there always seems to have to be someone to blame. So much litigation involves blaming and a payout. When we went to South Africa two years ago, at one place we stayed there was a big dam (which would be called a pond here). On the other side of the dam was a tall rockface, and attached to this rock wall, about 35 feet up, was a zipline or foofy-slide. So, in order to use and enjoy this, you had to swim across the dam, climb up the cliff, then stand on a natural rock platform next to a beehive in an old tree-trunk, and launch yourself off to drop into the water at the best-judged time.
We all went on this ziplock, it was absolutely thrilling, but while Nick was waiting on his 5th or 6th turn, he was stung by one of the bees just below his eyebrow! He ran over to Matthew who was about to launch himself, grabbed the handle and leapt! Of course he hadn't given himself enough time to get a proper grip and so very quickly he lost the handle and plummeted down, about 25 feet, to land "SMACK" on his back in the water! I immediately started swimming over to where he had surfaced but he gestured to me to leave him, as he had winded himself and was waiting until he could breathe properly again.
His back was covered in red welts, with bruising later, his eye swelled up for about 3 days, poor boy, but no one was to blame but ourselves. We didn't sue the little farm, we just sorted him out with anti-histamines for the swelling, and arnica cream for the bruises, and tea and sympathy for the psychological wounds. It had been a little accident, and that's what accidents are, they happen quite often in our day to day lives, particularly with children.
So with the oil, it doesn't really matter in the long run who is to blame, just fix it, please! The future of the ocean rests on decisions made by these finger-pointing idiots. Take some money away from our bloated military if you haven't enough. Bring the soldiers home from Afghanistan and Iraq, and those futile Vietnam-type wars. But put everything you have into this effort, it is of the utmost urgency, nothing else matters as much as this.
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