Our resident thug cockerell met a rather nasty end in my abscence. He made one of his ’stealth attack’ approaches on Neil whilst he was was sorting out the horses. Having his hands full, Neils only form of defence was to boot him away but unfortunately for Reg, Neil miss aimed and was wearing his steel toe capped boots which resulted in the shattering of one of Regs’s legs. Sick to his stomach Neil then had to dispatch our poor cockerell to put him out of his misery. Without exception everyone who ever knew our cockerel thinks that he had it coming, but we were very fond of him and it seems very quiet around here without his early morning call.
My trip to the UK was partially successful, the work was a bit thin on the ground, but it actually it made quite a nice change to be able to spend some time with family and friends. I did get a night working on the new Ridley Scott epic. It has a two hundred million pound budget apparently, and spending on a grand scale was evident as soon as you drove through the heavily guarded gates and up through about two hundred stables to the set (which was pretty amazing). I cant believe they build these things so realistically, although on close examination of a mock beam one of the pegs came off in my hand and was made of some kind of plastic resin. I spent the night watching Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett filming a dance sequence in crackling firelight and I was really impressed rather than bored which bodes well I hope.
Yesterday my parents arrived for a holiday. I had only returned myself the day before and had planned to try and make the house look respectable before they arrived. Unfortunately/fortunately we had a series of visitors which led to an impromptu drinking session, so that when they arrived they found a very untidy, dusty house and a load of drunks in the garden. Luckily they just grabbed a glass and joined in!!
Today they had to earn their keep, helping me bash some fence posts in to make a new duck/chicken run which they ( the fowl that is, not the parents) managed to escape out of a few hours later. Then, in the pouring rain we had to round up all the escapees and try and get them back in. Our collie dog was useless and it was like a comedy sketch with people, chickens and ducks going in all directions.
Tomorrow we are going to the foire to try and get a Reg replacement. Hopefully this one will not have such a mean streak and we can all live in harmony.
Your post re: the visit to the set of Robin Hood makes go,”OH MY GOD!!” Wooohooo!! Thx so much, bless you.