Perous Secret Diary - Keep Out: September 10, 2006

che

it's true what his t-shirt says 

the big event...

the fabled 'duck race'.

rock duck, space duck and star duck. 

please help us blot out cancer

the duck race is for a good cause innit.

but sadly the event was a little undersubscribed.

 

che and miranda came down for the 'duck race' at one of our nearby pubs.

now when we were first thinking about moving to the area, we were advised to check out this pub and that they did 'duck races'.

we went and introduced ourselves at the pub.
'so, you do duck races here?' i said to the landlord over a pint of cider, 'how does that work then?'
'you get ya duck, put him in the water upstream and the first duck back to the pub wins a prize'.
'what if you don't have a duck?' i said.
'well, you go and buy one' said the landlord
'are some ducks quicker than others?' i enquired.
the landlord looked at me like i was simple and said very slowly (so i could understand better) 'go...to...a...shop...and...buy...yourself...a...yellow...rubber...duck...like...the...ones...you...get...for...the...bath.'
'ohhhhhh, i see....' says i.

i'm not from round these parts, you know...

or at least i wasn't...now i am.

space duck almost a winner

because we really ARE slow, and because we were given mis-information, we didn't realise that you DON'T bring your own duck: you just buy raffle tickets that are numbered the same as the ducks that are released upstream.

we got some pretty strange looks when we turned up with our own jazzy ducks and had to ask special permission from the judge of the race before we could enter them...

the upstream is only a 20ft along the muddy stretch of water at the bottom of the pub garden and there is NO current...

so you get two guys in waders with spades generating a little flow for the ducks to go.

not quite the white water rapid excitement i was expecting...a very slow paced morning.
but a great one.
proper british nonsence.
and with some cake stalls.
mmmmm...

in this picture you can clearly see the outsider (space duck) in the lead.
i'm sure we'd have been disqualified if we had actually won.
but he peaked too early (as is often the way) and finished in the middle of the pack/crowd/gaggle?

had lunch at our favourite pub in stodmarsh.

came back in the afternoon for a last bit of sun and a swim in the pool.

walked the dogs in sunset accross the back field picking blackberries along the way.

i'm very happy (despite my lab ruining friday's shoot and being utterly utterly useless).
i love it here.
happy days...