Monday, October 3, 2011

A rural idyll


To the children’s primary school for Agricultural Day. I counted a dozen or so young goats, 15 calves (mostly Friesians but there was the odd Jersey and even a Simmenthal-Charolais cross, very exotic) and about 20 lambs. 

It was quite the rural idyll. In the next paddock two horses were running up and down just because they could, the birds in the trees were singing, not too many children were sobbing, Seven had excelled at sand-tray-making, Nine’s friend Grace won the supreme award for her handsome calf Frank, and all was well with the world.

I gazed again at the lambs and was overcome with a very strong feeling of . . . hunger. In the spring this man’s fancy lightly turns to mint sauce. 

1 comment:

Richard said...

A "towney" view of lambs that I support,lamb=mint sauce. Wonderful. But how do you tell children that lamb is on the menu tonight? Best to say its meat with mint sauce-then they discover Father Christmas, later, is not - works a treat
(Mint sauce needs to be good though.)