Monday 13 January 2014

"The gate hangs well...

My father had a good collection of 'bon mots' including this one.   He could never resist quoting it if we saw anyone hanging a new gate.   He always used to say, "The gate hangs well and hinders none, refresh and pay and travel on."   I looked it up on the internet a few minutes ago and it seems as though it is the name of a pub.   That figures as he was a great one for going for a long walk and calling half way round for a pint.

You will see from today's photograph that the farmer is taking advantage of a relatively warm, sunny day to re-hang a gate into his new field.   Tess and I walked round after lunch to photograph him.   I daren't let her off the lead as there are so many feisty rabbits around in this weather and I would have been calling her all the way home.   As it was we had a pleasant walk apart from my arm being almost pulled out of its socket once or twice.   I quoted my father's saying when I saw the farmer though.

On an entirely different subject I must tell you about an amusing story I read in the farmer's week end paper.   Mobile phones drive him mad at the best of times and he is totally unable to understand this constant need to communicate with one another.   If he ever gets to live alone I am afraid he will live a very solitary life apart from his outing to the cattle market every Friday!

So, back to mobile phones, and heckling as it happens.   Let's take the heckling first.   There is an article in the paper about Alfie Boe the singer.  He is poking about back stage and comes across an article about a singer who was on stage singing when someone at the back started to heckle him.   He tried to ignore it but he couldn't and finally got down off the stage, marched up to the heckler and punched him on the nose.   The man fell, hit his head and died.   The actor got back on the stage and finished his act!   He was of course arrested and taken to court but got off with a sentence of only a fortnight because the judge said he had been 'unnecessarily provoked!"

Boe himself also had an experience - this time involving a mobile phone.   He was singing in Cardiff and in between songs somebody;s mobile phone went off in the audience.   He walked off the stage, went up to her, took the phone and answered it - it was the woman's mother.   Boe told her that her daughter was in the theatre and that he was Alfie Boe - she didn't believe him so he turned to the audience and go them all to shout out his name to convince her - he said they had a nice conversation but that the woman whose phone it was was so embarrassed he is sure that she will never do it again.



All this reminded me that I once went to Stratford to see Coriolanus - I went with a friend and her boyfriend (who wasn't backward at coming forward).   He was having difficulty hearing and at one particularly quiet part shouted out "Pardon ?" - the cast on stage froze for a minute and then carried on - a little louder this time.

15 comments:

Frugal in Derbyshire said...

Great anecdotes!
Gillx

mrsnesbitt said...

Love it! My pet hate when at the supermarket is being held up by people ambling around whilst on their mobile phones. Grrrrrr!

Terry and Linda said...

I had to laugh at the "PARDON" and that everyone carried on only louder!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Gwil W said...

Like Mrs Nesbitt I also get uptight with supermarket telephonists. Shall I get the soft toilet paper or the extra soft? etc. I don't know why but it almost drives me nuts.

Anonymous said...

It seems like the supermarket phone users are driving us all nuts. In one aisle, listening to a man requesting "put Mum on" three times, I felt like screaming "just do it!". Probably seeking advice for another world-shattering decision like soft or extra soft.
Arghghh - I'm with the farmer - only use my mobile when I absolutely have to, mainly for work-related access.

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

What I dislike is when someone is talking on the phone in a store, but I think he or she is talking to me and I answer back. Then *I* get the look like: can't you see I'm not talking to you??? Well, no, actually, you are standing right next to me and you are talking using your bluetooth earpiece only -no bent elbow to give me a clue you are holding a phone!
Arrrrgh.

Dartford Warbler said...

I`m with The Farmer too, although texting is now a useful part of life and not too intrusive.

Train telephonists with loud voices ( as in "I`m on the train....etc, etc ...."!) are another bugbear of mine.

A Heron's View said...

I am always amazed by people who speak loudly & disclose very personal details about themselves in crowded areas whilst on a mobile phone - do they have no shame?

Cro Magnon said...

I have yet to find a situation, away from home, when I am obliged to use my mobile. Therefore it stays unused on the desk in front of me!

Cro Magnon said...

p.s. I recently heard Richard Griffiths saying that he stopped a play to escort someone with a ringing phone away from the theatre.

Gwil W said...

Pride in his work and his new field! Oft times farm gates as you know are tied to the fence with bailing twine or merely leaning. The worst are topped with barbed wire and padlocked. Even on footpaths in Wales I'm sad to say I've seen such obstructions.

Heather said...

Wonderful anecdotes Pat - how gallant of Alfie Boe! In my family the saying was 'A creaking gate lasts longest'. My father narrowly avoided a fatal heart attack in his early 60s and lived to be 84 - he always likened himself to a creaking gate!

Cloudia said...

you end with a great incident!



ALOHA from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
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Anonymous said...

The gate rhyme as a pub name seems to be evident around the country so in the manner of so much folklore, the little couplet has clearly traveled.

Love the Alfie Boe story. He's a great raconteur.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks from you all for the positive comments. Keep calling.