“Save yersel son. Let yir brakwast wirm go.”

Translate:

wirm, wurm: worm.

“Save yourself son. Let your breakfast worm go.”

subterranean drama.

If you were in a hot air balloon looking down on a rainforest it would look like a big flat green carpet.

But it’s not a carpet it’s a jungle stuffed with all manner of exotic birds, plants, insects and animals.

So the next time you look down at some weedy soil it is the same. Muddy estuaries too but even richer.

They are miniature jungles that you are seeing only the top and if healthy are packed full with life. They generate food for mites, insects, worms, moles, birds and plants. Us too if you farm them.

Next time you’re laying tarmac, concrete or slabs spare a thought for the life you’ve capped and killed and think on the dust noise and floodwater generator you’ve made.

Plants and living soil siphon up water, dampen noise and trap dust, they cool and freshen the air. These are only the less obvious benefits.

A concrete driveway barely provides enough sustenance for even a spider.

More info:

Polution Reduction: Lakeland Ledger; USA.

Lawns: University of Mininesota

The Scottish Word: wirm with its definition and its meaning illustrated and captioned with the word used in context in the Scots language and in English.