Posts Tagged ‘summer’
Walking The Dog 9
High summer. A blanket of thick grey cloud and a force four or five south-easterly blasts a fine drizzle into my face. We’re checking out the aftermath of yesterday’s invasion and the pleasant surprise is that there’s no evidence at all of the drama that was played out near the Langstone bridge.
The world, his wife and about a thousands grockles invaded our space yesterday all in search of a dying whale. Actually there were probably about a hundred turning the sea wall in front of Langstone millpond into a grandstand. It’s a well known fact though that one grockle causes a disturbance in the Force equivalent to 10 locals so the initial, instictive estimate is more accurate.
Sid, the harbourmaster, came into The Bluebell at lunchtime on Thursday and relayed the news. I took a walk up there with the dogs out of interest and the fantasy of a five figure photography fee. To be honest, I don’t understand the fuss. I know that Captain Kirk and Mr Spock have helped to endow whales with mystic, spiritual qualities but I see more interesting, exciting and tragic things nearly every day in Chichester harbour. When the grockles arrived the following day I don’t think one of them turned round and noticed the 30 odd little egrets roosting in the trees just a few yards behind them. The television crews certainly didn’t.
The entire area was in gridlock. Glorious Goodwood and the whale turned our local paradise into an extension of the M25. Television crews and photographers with lenses as long as my arm clogged our roads and pathways. In the harbour itself, massive RIBs, the inshore lifeboat, helicopters and even a police boat added to the mainly manmade drama and the huge cost of it all. All credit to them though because this morning when I walked past the millpond where yesterday there was even a tent erected for the press and the multiple veterinary, wildlife and eco professionals, there wasn’t a single scrap of litter to be seen.
The same morning that the sorry whale paddled up the channel between Thorney and Hayling, Capone, Carla and I were on the other side of Thorney, in our latest favourite spot, waist deep in the saltmarsh grasses. Our friend the heron came into sight and as we sidled up towards him I was delighted to see that his mate was there. My longest lens is a mere few inches so, as best as one can with two dogs squabbling over a stick, I tried to get closer.
The birds took off and escaped me but as we reached the limit of that direction where a vicious barbed wire fence hinders any further progress, I saw them both on the side of the river bank. Then I saw double, for perhaps 60 or 70 yards in front of me were four herons casually watching the water and thinking about breakfast.
This was a truly remarkable sight. Much more interesting to me than a enormous, sad mammal lying in the mud and I managed to record it at the limit of my zoom lens. This was my scoop, captured in glorious Kodak colour while the grandstand roared and cheered and applauded.
Walking The Dog 6
So in the fourth week of July, summer has finally decided to show its face and very welcome it is too. But not for Capone. When God invented dog he forgot the sweat glands and made do with a long, long tongue and a predilection to pant – sometimes very noisily.
In fact, Capone is far from the worst or loudest in this department although it does seem to be something that particularly afflicts Staffs and similar breeds. I sat in the vets the other day and this poor animal sounded like it was being slowly strangled, gagging and panting as if on the point of death.
You have to be so careful when you leave them in the car in this weather. Tescos provides very little shaded parking and even with two front windows left wide open, I have to be in and out in a flash. The only alternative is to tie him to the hitching post outside (you know, where the cowboys tie up their horses) but Capone, being the superstar that he is, attracts so much attention, so many “oohs” and “aahs” that it can take twenty minutes to break out of the conversations and escape.
Other than the arrival of summer, there is some truly momentous news to impart. Capone has a friend, a companion, a permanent partner. She arrived just a few weeks ago and has the same provenance as him, rescued by special forces extraction from the hellhole known as West London. Only nine months old, she too had spent her life locked in some grotty flat for twenty-three and a half hours a day, released only for a short walk to the fag shop and back.
Allow me to introduce you to Carla. Yes, if President Sarkozy can have one so can I and she struts and preens and prances as any good supermodel should.
On arrival Capone thought I’d finally found him the teenage sex slave that we’ve both been hoping for but being a gentleman he soon relented and has given her a warm and loving welcome. It has to be said that this is not always entirely deserved for she can be a right little bitch at times – and I am moderating my language as much as possible within the bounds of accuracy.
After a few weeks proper exercise with a little discipline and training she has developed into a delightful member of the family. All credit has to go to Capone for his wonderful temperament, forbearance and patience. Even when they are both exhausted from a lengthy walk, the exuberance of youth still causes her to clamp his leg in her jaws, chew on his cheek or plant her nether regions in his face in the hope of a little playtime. They playfight and tumble, chase each other and fight endlessly over sticks but they are now firm friends.
At first, when the obligatory rich tea biscuits were handed out, Carla would snatch, grab and my fingers would be in great danger. Now she accepts these sweetmeats with all the delicacy and elegance of Madame Sarkozy taking a spoonful of foie gras.
Capone has taught Carla to swim. At first she would try to jump on his back, then after a few frantic paddles she would panic and return to shore. To Capone’s consternation she has now become a faster swimmer than him and she delights in letting him set off then plunging in and overtaking him to retrieve the stick first.
There is a remedy for this which has to be applied regularly. It involves a trip to the end of Hayling Island, out of the calm waters of Chichester harbour, to where the surf thunders in and for my best boy and girl, the waves are twice or three times their height.
Here Capone’s great bravery and strength triumphs. He will go out through anything, rising and falling in the swell, capturing the stick and returning to the shore through the white water and massive undertow where a frantic, near hysterical Carla promptly steals it from him while he recovers.
Just like a woman – but she is our little girl.
Capone has a good laugh as Carla gets her first real swimming lesson
Peter Reynolds 