Musings from the Merse
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Swinging the lead?
Huttonian plus the youngest daughter and affiliates were peacefully picking Blackberries in 'The Clouds' just outside the castle when a car drew up besides a young mother with a twin buggy who was seemingly about to join us in this late summer harvesting. The driver said something to the mother and drove on. Apparently he had warned her (but not us) about feeding blackberries to her children as they were 'covered in lead' from the passing cars. She passed on her way leaving the fruit to the incomers. We wondered why there were so few black berry pickers around (in contrast to France) so this may be the reason. I doubt if more than twenty cars a day pass along the Clouds-its not the Fishwick Bypass for goodness sake
And lead? Do the vehicles around here have access to leaded fuel?
Anyhow spread the rumour.
All the more for us
Huttonian plus the youngest daughter and affiliates were peacefully picking Blackberries in 'The Clouds' just outside the castle when a car drew up besides a young mother with a twin buggy who was seemingly about to join us in this late summer harvesting. The driver said something to the mother and drove on. Apparently he had warned her (but not us) about feeding blackberries to her children as they were 'covered in lead' from the passing cars. She passed on her way leaving the fruit to the incomers. We wondered why there were so few black berry pickers around (in contrast to France) so this may be the reason. I doubt if more than twenty cars a day pass along the Clouds-its not the Fishwick Bypass for goodness sake
And lead? Do the vehicles around here have access to leaded fuel?
Anyhow spread the rumour.
All the more for us
Labels: BBC. Broadcasting House. Duns, Blackberries, lead poisonin
Comments:
Good to see the Zoester entering into the spirit of things and dressing like a local, the junior member of the family looks a little neglected though was she really just left with a welly to entertain herself?
# posted by 
: 7:01 PM
: 7:01 PM
Dressing like a local? Dingers will welcome this accolade. As for the young 'un the welly was purely a carry-one- accessory; no entertainment needed in swinging Duns
I remember reading some research on this - it was based around Pity Me in Durham - the houses and allotments that backed on to the "new" bypass (constructed in the 1930s) all had significantly higher lead levels in their soil than those in the rest of the village - and as the lead salts around are reasonably insoluble they persist for a long time.
I suspect the traffic density is higher in Pity Me and on it's bypass than on the Fishwick Freeway though.
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I suspect the traffic density is higher in Pity Me and on it's bypass than on the Fishwick Freeway though.
