Tuesday, 5 June 2012

Sink or Swim

It's been one of them days.........

The nephew is stopping for the week and as is the norm when having a vacation at Shep's house he is treat along similar lines to the dogs, in that he is bundled into the car in the morning and finds out his destination upon arrival. Also like the dogs he has to scavenge throughout the day whilst remaining forever hopeful his dish will be filled with gruel at night. Unlike the dogs he isn't barred in the kennel (although it could be tempting!).

The thought of getting up at 6am seemed a painful one, but obviously the thought of being left behind was even worse and so it was he stumbled out of his room this morning, started scavenging then jumped into the car and off we went.

A day of gathering and lamb marking was on the cards, Shep had the quad, nephew had his legs, a grand way to waken up a teenage lad I thought. By afternoon I took pity on the poor soul and decided some fun was well deserved and so directed him on the quad whilst I went off in a different direction on foot, our paths were destined to cross eventually if the directions I had given had been understood.

Our paths didn't cross. Twice he came into view, searching the ground frantically trying to make visual contact with his 'dearly beloved' Aunty, only to fail and disappear out of view on the hill ground once again.

This behaviour had me somewhat perplexed, after all, I could see him as clear as day and yet it seemed he was unable to see me.

I stood on a raised bit of ground, rolled a fag, grinned to myself and watched the lad buzzing in and out of view like a panicky dog who had lost it's owner. Fag finished and still he seemed unable to see me by which time my humour was beginning to waver, arm waving and whistling had little effect. Was I invisible? Was I actually just living through some peculiar sort of dream? What is it with youngsters these days? Do they teach them anything at school?

Eventually for all I could still hear the bike I was aware it didn't sound as though it was moving, then there was the sound of much engine revving............

Humour was getting heavier as I retraced my steps, muttering under my breath, repeating the directions I had given him to myself, how could he possibly get it wrong? Okay! He'd never been on this ground before, never been on a quad on this ground before but really! I'm sure my directions were fairly straight forward and anyhow, if I could see him, surely to god he could have seen me. Should I suggest an appointment at the opticians, could there be something wrong with this lads sight?

I followed the sound of the bike, had he turned the engine off I would still have known the direction to head. What on earth had he been thinking of?

On coming into view I just couldn't help but laugh, I was gonna give the lad a bulling but hey! it was the best thing that had happened that day, how could I possibly be annoyed, especially when, just as the dogs would, he seemed to drop his lugs upon seeing me and that look came over his face of "Oh god! I'm in trouble now"
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It's amazing what we learn in life, for instance, nephew now knows that quads don't float - they have a tendency to sink!
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That's a pretty impressive bogging it has to be said, even Kale found it funny! I patted the lad on the back and told him there was nowt like keeping it in the family, after all, Shep herself has a pretty impressive track record of bogging bikes, it must be in the genes I suggested!
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It also ended up in the wellies! Give the lad his dues, he could give me a run for my money any day, but how is it his wellies didn't get filled?