A Very Trelawnyd Funeral and Camilla's First Flight


Forgive this second blog which supplements my Mary Berry love fest
I bumped into Auntie Gladys in the village at 10.20 am when I was out with the dogs. she was walking down towards the church and she reminded me that today was Tommy 'Gop's' funeral day Tommy  Gop was a much respected farmer from the village. He farmed the prestigious Gop farm for many years, a farm that dominates the approach to Trelawnyd from the West.
Gladys is an old hand at funerals, especially farmers' services, and so she quite wisely  had planned to arrive over an hour before the service was to start.
This is not as bizarre as it sounds, for at the very same time, a whole gaggle of villagers were making their way down to the church to make sure they managed to get into the Church.....an hour later over seventy people were sheltering against the south wall of the Church out of the gale force winds.
As the Church bell rang out, I took this brief video, before I took my place by the graveyard fence to give my respects to the arriving family. You can tell just how windy it has been today, if you look carefully you can see one of the hen house roofs lying messily on the ground.

The wind increased in it's intensity throughout the day, so much so, that when I started to round up the geese as the light started to fade, a sudden sharp gust of wind caught Camilla's outstretched wings and the Canada goose took off like a remote controlled plane.
Now Camilla is the only animal on the field that has the capacity for self propelling flight, she has never done so because her flock are domesticated geese which have lost their free flying abilities, so her sudden 'freedom' was I suppose as much as a shock to her than it was for me.
Up she went, flapping and panicking to perhaps sixty or seventy feet, before another few gusts of wind buffeted her away over the riding stable fields.
I chased after her.
She glided downwards for a bit, got caught by another gust then after shaving some hawthorn hedging she clipped a telephone line that crossed the field and crashed heavily to the ground where she lay still.
I was convinced she was dead, and galloped through the horsefield like a mad Alec until I reached her.
She lay with her eyes open, and was very still, but she was very much alive and blinked at me with a somewhat surprised look on her face.
I wrapped her in my coat and carried her back to the field where the rest of her little flock honked noisily at me as I placed her inside the goose house to recover.
Out of all of my field animals, the geese are perhaps my favourites...I couldn't quite bare it if I lost one to a freak gust of wind.
A funeral and a wayward goose...
A normal Wednesday.....not.



25 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:14 pm

    Now the wheels will be turning in her little thimble sized mind...hmmmm...wings out, lift off, something could be done with that.....

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  2. You need an agent and a producer. Your life would make great little half hour shows with your animals and your village.

    Cindy Bee

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  3. Ah, I am off to a funeral myself tomorrow, and my heart is heavy...but I did laugh at your comic-book description of a startled goose's first flight. Glad she was ok, and that she has you to be her hero!

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  4. Ah bless her...should we now call her Camilla Wright?
    Jane x

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  5. Godspeed farmer Gop, you sound like one of the good 'uns.
    I'm smiling at the thought of Camilla taking flight, I bet you'll catch her standing atop one of the hen houses, wings stretched, waiting for her next gust of miracle wind :)
    We had a tornado touch down last night, 128 miles per hour winds, gratefully not in my woods, but two mile down the road, is just a little too close !
    ~Jo

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  6. Oh Crikey John, I hope Camilla gets over her shock.
    And you yours!

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  7. At least it was sunny.

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  8. Imagine the freedom of suddenly discovering you can fly. What an adventure! Lane

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  9. Like an astonished child losing a wayward kite.....poor Camilla!

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  10. Those 'Canadians' are a tough lot!!

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  11. Oh our best to Camilla! I hope she gets over her shock - that had to be terrifying for her :(

    the bells were lovely; RIP Farmer Tommy Gop...

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  12. RIP Mr Gop.

    Poor Camilla! I'm glad you were able to find her alive and bring her back home.

    Everything is so GREEN there!

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  13. A good night to you, John. ♥

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  14. I wonder if Camilla will try that again?

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  15. Poor Camilla. I can just imagine her lying stunned on the ground, blinking at you. Must have been quite the surprise for the old girl.

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  16. Dear Earl,
    Before you "bare" anything I would just like to say that I have come up with a name for your field. It's the same name that local Sheffielders applied to the rough ground north of Crookes Valley Road in Sheffield: THE PONDEROSA as in that ranching cowboy series "Bonanza". But who is Hoss Cartwright I wonder?
    Regards,
    Little Joe

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  17. Lovely post, John. The vid gave me the feel of your place, and Camilla's unexpected flight made me smile. Glad she came out of the experience OK.

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  18. Right. That's the last time I'll hold out my arms when it's windy!

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  19. Dear Camilla -- she survived both the shock of her first flight as well as the crash landing. What a star!! And what a star you are chasing after her like that -- bless... Nice video -- the wind and the bells -- charming...

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  20. I clicked on the second video showing the lady singing Bring Him Home as I continued reading your post. Then I came to the part where Camillia fell and you ran over to her and scooped her up into your coat. You had me in tears, John.

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  21. John - you are a star looking after your flock so well.

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  22. Windy as hell here as well and I can't stand it. I hope Camilla recovers!

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    Replies
    1. She's looking bright today.....and promptly flew off again
      She's back now
      U ok Eric. Nice to hear from you

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