Saturday 9 October 2010

The Maniacs, Lost Sheep And The Pea Souper

Autumn has come six weeks early. Today the conditions are lethal. It is foggy. Thick fog in places where visibility is down to less than 30 metres. A 'pea souper'.

So what do the local drivers do? They accelerate. It is petrifying watching them coming towards you, at speed, with faces like stone, chiselled in concentration. I do not understand the thinking. Somehow the fog gives them a feeling of security and invincibility. Maybe they feel they are enveloped in soft cotton wool.

The black faced sheep are safe from the maniacs. Their black features make them visible. But if they turn broadside and are facing the other way, it is nearly impossible to see them. The locals tend to be unapologetic if they run one over. It should cost them the going market rate, which they should pay to the farmer, but they tend to take the line that it is the 'silly bloody sheep's' fault.

"I was driving along the road, minding my own business, when I saw this sheep in the distance walking towards the road," somebody once told me. "The stupid sheep just kept coming, so I hit it."

This sheep, however was lucky and survived with no more than a sore behind.

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