July 28 - Day 104 - 'As I lie in bed I can walk step by step on the fells...seeing every stone & flower & patch of bog & cotton pass where my old legs will never take me' Beatrix Potter

At 5.30 this morning, when it was ‘chucking it down’, I thought that this morning’s journey would be a very wet one. Luckily, it seemed to ease just before I set off and I was able to stop to take some pictures.

I was hoping to get a picture of a rabbit (to go with today’s title) that I saw munching away in the field but it ran (or should I say hopped) off as soon as I slowed down. So - you have a picture of the fields and sky instead.

On July 28th in 1866, Beatrix Potter, writer and illustrator was born. Given that her books are still sold and read, we have to smile at her comment about the ‘Tale of Peter Rabbit’ (1902), “I am aware these little books don't last long even if they are a success.”

It seems impossible that the same society that created and loved characters such as Benjamin Bunny, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, Miss Moppet, Jemima Puddle-Duck and Mrs. Tittlemouse, also includes on the same day (July 28) in the year of Potter’s death (1943), what was the worst British bombing raid, when in 43 minutes, 2,326 tons of bombs killed 42,000 German civilians. It is hard to imagine. It is also hard to imagine that in the nine months that followed November 1940, when cities and industrial areas were targeted by German bombers, over 43,500 civilians were killed.

As I have said before by using the Jo Cox quote, we often have ‘far more in common than that which divides us.’ Thinking about Beatrix Potter books and the fact that they were published in German by 1900, perhaps the best way of understanding societies that create both books and bombs, or more importantly the best way to prevent the latter ever happening again, is to think about parents in Germany and in Britain reading the same book to their frightened children during an air raid. A chilling thought but one that might just unite us for many generations to come.