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Original poster

ADs drinking al fresco at The Sleeping Swans

994 replies

BogRollBOGOF · 09/04/2021 17:17

ADs, grab your thermals, long johns and winter woolies, we're finally off to drown our sorrows at the Sleeping Swan!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
18
Curlygirl06 · 30/04/2021 11:36

Picture of a heron, a sleeping swan and a swan scratching its arse- who says we're boring? Lol.

ADs drinking al fresco at The Sleeping Swans
ADs drinking al fresco at The Sleeping Swans
ADs drinking al fresco at The Sleeping Swans
TrustTheGeneGenie · 30/04/2021 11:37

@TabbyStar

I'll come with you Gene 😂
its a date!!
justasking111 · 30/04/2021 13:21

I am going to a birthday party this afternoon, OK the host is only two, but it is going to be lovely to see relatives getting together, now what to wear {grin]

Original poster
BogRollBOGOF · 30/04/2021 16:40

I've dressed up twice so far this year, for the dentist and my birthday zoom party.
I have a wedding in early June. I won't bother buying anything but I'm spoiled for choice of clothes I've not worn for yonks!

OP posts:
SloeSummer · 30/04/2021 22:12

@Curlygirl06

Picture of a heron, a sleeping swan and a swan scratching its arse- who says we're boring? Lol.
Thanks for the lovely pictures

Today has been a high octane, high stress day

I needed to see a swan scratching it's arse! It was grounding Grin

Curlygirl06 · 30/04/2021 22:17

@SloeSummer everyone needs to see a swan scratching its arse! There was goose rage, a couple of duck fights and the heron was eyeing up the baby ducklings. We see it all down our park!

SloeSummer · 30/04/2021 22:26

[quote Curlygirl06]@SloeSummer everyone needs to see a swan scratching its arse! There was goose rage, a couple of duck fights and the heron was eyeing up the baby ducklings. We see it all down our park![/quote]
I hear geese get quite angry? Not sure why....well, there's lots of reasons to be angry but do they affect geese? 😂

One time, I was in a riverside bar with a big group. Little ducklings were bobbing along behind their mummy.

A big bird - I don't know what it was, it was too fast - swooped down and got one of the ducklings to eat. There were cries of horror from many at the bar. The duck and ducklings just turned to see what happened, went "meh" and carried on downstream.

Curlygirl06 · 30/04/2021 23:01

@SloeSummer Sounds like a heron taking the baby duckling. Apparently there had been 4 baby ducks yesterday and today just 3, so very likely.
Omg angry geese- these are angry now because it's the mating season but once the goslings hatch it's like WW3! We're talking Canada geese here, by the way. The other year I was at the park with my grandson, all the swans, ducks and geese had babies. The heron was on the island looking out to see if it could get any young babies. Every time it took off the geese went mad, the swans were hissing and flapping, the ducks were frantically gathering up the babies, then the swans would get too close to the geese, it was epic! My grandson thought it was fab. When the geese are out on the bank of the lake with the babies, they'll go for people walking past and have been known to peck dogs walking in the park. Add into that feeding them and it turns into a fight sometimes.

Swan with a goose in the background in the picture. Last year, due to lockdown I should think, we had 53 Canada geese at one stage in the park. There was 23 today (I have to count them each week for my grandson)

ADs drinking al fresco at The Sleeping Swans
Original poster
BogRollBOGOF · 01/05/2021 00:51

I generally leave people to be, but one exception was years ago in a park, around this time of year when some parents happily let their 2ish yo toddle over to some swans... I really did have to say something that time; I don't trust swans at the best of times and this is not the best with cygnets around.

I'm extra cagey with cows at this time too.

There's one park in the area where the swans and geese are most uncouth and particularly demanding to be fed Grin

OP posts:
SloeSummer · 01/05/2021 01:04

Bog "I'm extra cagey with cows at this time too."

My sister once made us change route on a walk because "those cows are looking at us strangely". I thought it was it hilarious but then I told my colleagues and they said "don't laugh at her, she's right".

ISaySteadyOn · 01/05/2021 06:01

Once long ago, DH (then DFiance) and I were walking in Cornwall and came to a field where the cows were looking strange. This was because there was a bull in the field next to them. They had no interest in us at all, but that bull captivated them. And he was looking back at them a bit nervously.

Original poster
BogRollBOGOF · 01/05/2021 09:16

There's a lot of dairy farming around here. If they're clearly minding their own business and I have a clear line between entrance and exit, I'm fine. If they're obstructing the exit I will try to swerve which is usually doable around here. There was one last year where a diversion was lengthy so I went off path to a sturdy fence to pass to go through the far end of the field. One of those real life trumps rules moments. I'm sure it's better for the farmer and me to be up the wrong end of the field than trampled by dogged determination to follow the rules very strictly.

OP posts:
SloeSummer · 01/05/2021 10:14

I'm having a phone call with my bestie at some point this weekend. They are usually long calls, especially when we're both mad busy with work and in my case, mum as well.

I had to cut the last two calls short because lockdown, which we don't discuss so we don't row, is the elephant in the room. This week, the things I'd like to talk about are the highlights of my week - the fun meeting with a newish client and his staff where we ended up chatting about normal stuff for an hour, and now a thing where I had coffee and a hug with a former colleague.

It is so weird that I can't tell my bestie the good things that happened in my week.

Curlygirl06 · 01/05/2021 10:27

@SloeSummer

Bog "I'm extra cagey with cows at this time too."

My sister once made us change route on a walk because "those cows are looking at us strangely". I thought it was it hilarious but then I told my colleagues and they said "don't laugh at her, she's right".

One of my girls is a magnet for cows, it's as if they can spot her from miles away and come galloping over. One of my epic parenting fails regards cows. We were walking down a hill, where cows had been recently. There was a huge puddle of water mixed with cow shit at the bottom. As we got to the bottom of the hill near the puddle, one of the girls tripped and went face down in the puddle of cow shit. The first thing I said was....... I've just washed that bloody coat! Parenting at its finest! I can still picture her, covered in shit and mud, crying because she thought the cows were coming hence why she was running down the hill. She was, and is, very clumsy (we all are) and it was just typical of her to fall over. I'm sniggering about it now, and it must have been 20 years ago.
Worldgonecrazy · 01/05/2021 17:06

Mr Crazy laughs at me being scared of cows. I get so nervous going through fields where there are cows.

Went for a beautiful sunrise run this morning, to the hill the local Morris side would normally be about to dance the summer in. Sadly there was just us. So if the summer is rubbish it’s because the Morris sides haven’t done their job this morning 😎

BIoodyStupidJohnson · 01/05/2021 18:05

I like the principle of cows but I don’t like getting close to them. They’re always larger than I think they’re going to be.

SloeSummer · 01/05/2021 18:16

I'm not going to ask about the principle of a cow

After a day at mum's, I'm thinking, shall I just give in? Participate in the charade? Listen to people banging on about variants? Agree to go wherever with T & T in place?

I may feel differently tomorrow. It just seems like a shockingly limited life.

I have to be careful what I post. But if this is how the world works, do I gain much by standing against it?

Wilberforce42 · 01/05/2021 19:10

We have to stand against it sloe we have to. (I may be slightly drunk on Greek wine ahead of orthodox Easter tomorrow) we must keep going

SloeSummer · 01/05/2021 19:40

@Wilberforce42

We have to stand against it sloe we have to. (I may be slightly drunk on Greek wine ahead of orthodox Easter tomorrow) we must keep going
Oh is it too early to say Happy Easter?

I don't mean I will become a dementor. I will never back lockdown.

But how do I get lifelong friendships back if I keep saying
I don't want to discuss lockdown
I can't go to the pub with you because T & T - when they're really excited to go out
Don't ask about the vaccine, it's personal - they will freak out thinking I am unvaccinated and unclean! Or at least start an interrogation...

This on top of a couple of health issues that make me seem a bit of a pain already.

I guess it will be one of those things where the desired path will become apparent.

TrustTheGeneGenie · 01/05/2021 20:40

The principle of cows Grin

SloeSummer · 01/05/2021 21:24

@TrustTheGeneGenie

The principle of cows Grin
I did actually mean to put a smiley after that!
justasking111 · 01/05/2021 21:42

The best book I ever read about cows 😍

SloeSummer · 01/05/2021 21:47

The Principle of Cows sounds like an off Broadway play.

I'll always remember rushing up the stairs of the subway, I think at Lafayette Street, and nearly bumping into one of those Sotheby's cows that were everywhere.

MrsEWeatherwax · 01/05/2021 21:59

I’m fed up with the covid police fines. There was a gathering for the poor teenage who took it own life and I believe the organiser has been bloody fined. How fucking awful is that. £400 fine, it’s a fucking disgrace.
I have no idea who to vote for on Thursday, I’m angry with everyone and everything.

Love a hotel breakfast, I’m so sick of cooking and washing up! I want to go on holiday.
The swans at the local park are so beautiful, last years young still have bits of brown on them. Wonder if they mate this year or wait till next year. I probably need to pay attention to Springwatch etcBlush

110APiccadilly · 01/05/2021 22:03

I think The Principle of Cows sounds like an Alexander McCall Smith book.

Pleased to report that I had a very helpful phone conversation with the GP yesterday about my back (and what painkillers I can take and carry on feeding) which was a relief. The GP I had when I first had a back problem was not helpful at all, so great to have a more supportive one.