Unfortunately, your usual correspondent was unable to take part in today’s activities and had to delegate the task upwards to She who must always be obeyed (“Barbara”).
It was a very wet morning, but nevertheless there was a turn out of four strapping men (David, Andrew, Brian and Tom) who joined She who must etc to pick up litter and to clear paths. The litter was particularly bad in the area where Crag Lane meets the lane down to the cricket pitch because a public minded individual had generously deposited the detritus of a party in that area.
It is always refreshing to hear a new voice with new and original ways of looking at things in a blog like this. Here is Barbara’s take on the morning’s work.
Barbara’s blog
Always heed the omens!
On leaving the house to join the FOAW team for Saturday’s tasks, I noticed a ringed racing pigeon taking refuge from the heavy deluge and previous night’s stormy weather. Was he disorientated or just tired?
The woods were damp and wet, but there was plenty of rubbish to be collected. Musing idly on the amount of soiled tissue behind a clump of bushes, Miss Marple [ie Barbara (ed)] was reaching the decision that users of the village green must be using the area as an ‘al fresco’ toilet, when my litter picker chanced upon a full tin of Pedigree Chum. “Shame Judith is not around I thought” as I slipped it into the sack.
Progressing onward, I determined to go to the car park at Stairfoot Lane where I had heard there was much litter. Reaching the entrance I was warmly greeted by a bouncing, lively, canine who thereon adopted me as we litter picked together. After some time, without a sign of his owner, I decided that perhaps he was lost. I pondered on this as I collected bottles, sandwich cartons and an inordinate amount of straws and other detritus. Armed as I was solely with bag and litter picker I had no way of communicating with the outer world. I wondered idly what Roger might think if I managed to get this bundle of canine energy back into our largely open plan house, where he was running a course with serious minded therapists. Where was Judith when you needed a dog expert??
At that moment a car pulled into the car park driven by a dog walker. He too was given a warm welcome by my new canine friend. What a hero he proved to be. Both of us without our reading glasses made it tricky to read a telephone number on the collar of an excited and strong dog. Eventually we got the number but when we rang there was no response. My hero returned home with his own dogs whilst I held onto our new friend, by this time on a leash he did not relish. After ten minutes of dog sitting, being dragged around the car park numerous times, my hero returned and bundled the dog into his car and set off to drive him home.
I continued for a further half hour clearing the car park before I walked back along the path. After I had gone some way, I heard someone whistling me. I stopped, looked round, and saw a distant figure in a red jacket. “Ah, this must be David!” I thought, so I waited as the figure approached through the rain mist. Then I discovered that it was a complete stranger with a whistle in his hand. Feeling foolish I tried to look useful with my pickers. Then the penny dropped.
“Are you looking for a dog?” I queried. Yes, indeed he was looking for a bouncing, friendly brown German Pointer. So I was able to set his mind at ease and say his dog was probably already back at his house. At which point, his relief at knowing his dog was safe, was replaced by imagining what his wife was going to say when she realised he had lost the dog!!!
A big thank from FOAW to my hero dog walker who reunited dog with owners.
The pigeon is still with us, but now preening his feathers. He too, hopefully, will be reunited with his owners.
B
Postscript
The racing pigeon recovered and set off home on Saturday afternoon.
Friends of Adel Woods 