Friday 8 January 2016

An Aberration.

 An aberration has appeared in the sky today.   After a very wet start this morning, the sun has appeared and the sky has cleared.   It has turned quite a bit colder, but who cares about that when the sun is out.   Let's hope that by next week it is more than an aberration and
has become almost a permanent presence.

Because our usual cafe has closed for a fortnight we all went to our local auction house's cafe for coffee this morning.   It really is a huge asset to our town; you can view the details at tennants.co.uk
Tomorrow there is a fine furniture and taxidermy sale and after our coffee friend W and I looked round the stuff for sale.   What beautiful furniture - and most of it so superior to the modern stuff.
There were a lot of dealers with catalogues, making notes and peering through eyeglasses at silver items, so I don't think there will be any bargains to be had.  

On the taxidermy side there was a stuffed alligator.   I stroked its nose, remarking that I had always wanted to stroke an alligator's nose.   W poked me in the back and made a grunting sound!   Didn't half make me jump.  Or you could have had a stuffed ostrich (where would you put it?) or two stuffed matching (mr and mrs) wild boar, or a mountain goat.   The list is endless.

Returning home to get lunch for the farmer who had been at the Auction Mart ,it was unusual for him to be late.   There had been a bad accident at the mart.   The farmers always go into the sale ring with their animals and a farmer had gone in with some bullocks and one had knocked him down.   As he lay on the floor the bullock had gone for him again and only the quick thinking of someone by the ring had saved him as the bullock was driven off.   The ambulance and paramedic were called and this resulted in the arrival of the air ambulance as the man was airlifted to the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough.   Long lines of land rovers and cattle trailers built up on the sides of the road all through the town as everyone had to move off site to make way for the emergency services.

We tend to forget that cattle are only one step removed from being wild animals and they still have wild instincts which can come to the fore, especially under unusual and perhaps scary, circumstances.   Hopefully the farmer involved is not too badly hurt.

It is now 3.15pm and the sun is still shining. I can't begin to tell you how welcome it is.

14 comments:

donna baker said...

Hello sunshine. Large animals are dangerous under unsettling circumstances. One of the reasons I can no longer abide with the two horses I have cared for when their owners abandoned them. I am just not quick enough nor strong enough to carry the feed and hay. It has been hard finding a forever home. That sale sounded like a lot of fun.

Sue in Suffolk said...

Our friend was seriously injured by a bull, managed to roll under a fence into a ditch but lost his phone on the way and then by immense luck another farm worker heard him shout. He was airlifted to hospital and has been unable to work since because his knee was so badly damaged.
It was certainly lovely to see the sun here today too.

Derek Faulkner said...

We had the same weather here in Kent Pat. Got up to clear skies, a frost and an iced up car. It was then lovely and sunny until around 2.00 - much appreciated.

Dawn said...

been some welcome sunshine here, I am always wary of standing behind the alpacas when feeding, I have had a few kicks once in the stomach, when I got thrown against th fencing by Nick Nack when they were being castrated in October I ended up with a nasty bruise and its still visable 3 months on, I hope the farmer is OK. I had a stuffed fox I gave it to our local pub last year.

Gerry Snape said...

I'm loving the silver sun!....once got trapped in a field with a herd of cows blocking my exit...climbed through a hawthorn hedge to get out....dad...farmers son just laughed!!!

Derek Faulkner said...

Sometimes the grazier on our reserve will over-winter several bulls together in an area where the public can't walk, but I do as part of the management team. I've never had a problem with them at all and they don't worry me - but if there was one horse in the field I'd never walk it - horses scare the life out of me.

Rachel Phillips said...

It has been a bright day in Norfolk. Bullocks, and even cows, can at times be dangerous to humans and I myself have been very frightened on more than one occasion as a child on the farm. And our cows were Jerseys, always thought to be docile. There have been many deaths from incidents with bulls around here over the years and I suspect many more lesser incidents that never get reported. Beware.

Dartford Warbler said...

Hoping that the injured farmer will soon be well and back working again. Large animals can never be taken for granted, however docile they may seem. The commoners cattle grazing on the New Forest are always treated with respect.

Joanne Noragon said...

My sister in law in Cambridge says it has rained for five months. I hope your sun stays out and the farmer will be up and well soon. And, glad it was not your farmer.

Virginia said...

Heavens you gave me a turn Weaver! I didn't read carefully enough and read 'THE' for 'A farmer had gone into....' - a gasp as I was sure your dear man was being treated in ICU!!!

Keep well, and safe, both of you!! Keep the nose-stroking to the stuffed ones!!

And I thoroughly agree about the superior quality of older furniture! A lot of modern couches are stapled together !!

Heather said...

We have had three days without rain and with quite a lot of lovely sunshine. There is a proper January chill in the air too so maybe Nature will be able to sort herself out. I do hope that poor farmer is not badly injured. With mobile phones and air ambulances, treatment can be provided so much more quickly these days.
Even the simplest of old furniture can be beautiful and is usually well made. It was certainly made to last unlike so much modern stuff.
I don't really like the idea of stuffed animals and am glad that there is not such a fashion for it any more.

Cro Magnon said...

I never go too near a cow with a calf, otherwise I've always found them very placid. Still damp and drizzly here, and it's going to continue. Winter is here!

thelma said...

poor farmer at the Auctionmart, hope it was not too serious. Just wonder if anyone bought the stuffed crocodile and how you would display it ;)

The Weaver of Grass said...

Re the stuffed alligator/crocodile - once past the head it was flatted so I suppose you could either hang it on the wall or use it as a 'rug' - actually its icy blue/green glass eyes were so cold-looking that I would be scared to have it in the house.

No more news on the farmer involved in the accident - we will probably hear at next week's auction mart day.