Of trouts and trees
After getting back from meeting magpiewiseman on sunday, I went round to the churchyard to sit in the tree there for a while. Trouble was, I couldn't actually get up into the tree. We used to have a rope-ladder going up the main trunk, which (for someone of my height :P) is the only reasonable way up the trunk, given the proximity of the gravestones to land on if you make a mistake. But I also used to shinny up the extreme ends of some of the very large branches. I had a bit of a go, and concluded that a)I am not as good a climber as I used to be, and b)I must have been nuts! It's a huge tree and I climbed almost every part of it, but the risk to life and limb was considerable. No wonder Mum couldn't bear to watch, and no wonder I didn't tell her the half of it ;)
I mosied on to the bridge over the stream and was more successful at recreating old times there as I had a paddle. It was very peaceful and I was just drifting off into a reverie when there was a huge splash in front of me and a creature shot past me about a foot and a half from the end of my toes. I thought it was a freak trout at first as it looked so slimy with the water. I withdrew my feet with a very manly cry rather than a girly scream and just had time to wonder what on earth a trout was doing in the 2 inches of water present in that stretch when I realised that it was in fact a mink. It dashed past and dived rapidly into the deep pool on the other side of the bridge.
Once I had recovered my composure I was very pleased to have had such a close encounter (not so sure about the mink's feelings on the matter). Especially as on my way down to the stream I had been thinking about how I used to have such encounters every 6 months or so. Almost like clockwork, if I hadn't seen something new or interesting for a while I didn't have to wait long before some other special moment occurred. It used to mean a lot to me.
I mosied on to the bridge over the stream and was more successful at recreating old times there as I had a paddle. It was very peaceful and I was just drifting off into a reverie when there was a huge splash in front of me and a creature shot past me about a foot and a half from the end of my toes. I thought it was a freak trout at first as it looked so slimy with the water. I withdrew my feet with a very manly cry rather than a girly scream and just had time to wonder what on earth a trout was doing in the 2 inches of water present in that stretch when I realised that it was in fact a mink. It dashed past and dived rapidly into the deep pool on the other side of the bridge.
Once I had recovered my composure I was very pleased to have had such a close encounter (not so sure about the mink's feelings on the matter). Especially as on my way down to the stream I had been thinking about how I used to have such encounters every 6 months or so. Almost like clockwork, if I hadn't seen something new or interesting for a while I didn't have to wait long before some other special moment occurred. It used to mean a lot to me.