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Dreich, dogs, deer, drops and when a Donald isn't a duck

Dreich - Scottish word: meaning dull, damp, gloomy, perhaps a bit misty, and generally miserable as applied to weather. It could involve rain or just the heavy wetness that hangs in the air going nowhere until you step out into it and soak some of it up. It's wet. British. And in summer, associated with midges. Thankfully, this is winter and England. So no flying beasties with teeth. Just a pair of dogs and lots of water -




raindrops on the village duck-pond




deer on the horizon




and dogs in the stream







A clean stream.

A stream (hopefully) protected by UK or (at the pre-Brexit moment) European laws.

Unlike streams, waterways and rivers in America. They were protected. But no more. Not after Yuge  D and his gang of environmentally unfriendly friends swung behind a Congressional Review Act to repeal the Stream Protection Rule. They prefer coal dust on their hands to clean water in their streams and lakes and taps. Mining companies will no longer risk prosecution if they block, divert or pollute water courses. They can legally dump coal ash into rivers as they scramble to save their industry. The environmental damage will be huge. But big D's ideal of a saved America doesn't seem to care if it emerges a dirty, polluting, ugly, corrupt America: as long as it is rich and fuelling itself, how it looks apparently doesn't matter.

Clearly, this is a case of a Donald who is not a duck.



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