Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Rabbit catching

I got into a conversation with an old man, he was not happy. he'd just been fined £75 for catching rabbits. I said "Surely no one is going to miss a few rabbits, I mean there's enough of them they breed like errr.... rabbits"
"Back in the day I worked 22 farms catching rabbits keeping them under control. I used to go round the farms in rotation, catching rabbits, taking out the mixies, them with Mixamatosis, farmers would be happy, the rabbits left would be healthier, everyone was happy and I made a living. Today I get fined £75 for catching a rabbit. What's the world coming to? It's all gone to blazes."
"What about the farmers? Don't they want the rabbits kept under control anymore?"
"No. No one works the land anymore. Not in the sense that we worked the land. We looked after the land, cared for it, we understood the rise and fall, the balance. Not anymore. The land is exploited now. It's a business to make money. farmers are now business men. Sometimes I wonder if they actually know their land at all other than how big their farm is how many fields they own. It's sad. There are those that remember the old days, but they won't go back to it, they can't."
"There must be some farmers out there who care."
"If there are I haven't met them. But maybe you're right, there will be some who respect the land and treat it right, but too few of them.  They're a dying breed. I'll be dead soon and everything I know will be gone with me."
"Do you have children? You can teach?"
"My children ha ha bloody townies the lot of em. They have no interest in the old ways. All they want is their new cars an' holidays abroad an trips to Tescos. What I have to teach them would mean they'd have to do some bleedin work. They'd have to get up in the mornings. Can you imagine that? Getting up in the bleedin morning to work on the land?  I don't think so. They don't have the soil under their fingernails."
"But so many people have allotments. They're still growing their own food. There's still an interest. There are people out there with "soil, under their fingernails"."
"Hat's off to them for trying, we need more of them, but they aren't farmers, they're just playing at it. I'd love to go back to the old ways but it's not going to happen. So we'll just keep taking from the land and eventually the land will be dead. But then so will I and I wont have to see it."


8 Comments:

Blogger Z said...

I suspect he'd got a pheasant or two in with his rabbits, it's not illegal to shoot a bunny at any time of the year!

3:18 pm  
Blogger Tim said...

Interesting - I suspect he was a bit cross and confused and just used you as a chance to sound off. And I'm sure you're very grateful to 'Jason Borne' for his contribution to the debate, it's good to know how to counter spam, isn't it?

9:52 pm  
Blogger bandit said...

Lovely. The serendipitous fortune I mean. And the land, and caretaking and "the vine of indifference" shorn and trampled upon at every opportunity. Just when we're feeling there may be no hope, we find someone who cares.

12:43 am  
Blogger bandit said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

4:41 am  
Blogger bandit said...

yeah, I mucked up the location, then read further, so, try again - Doppelganger East Side of River City - will wonders never cease? Obviously not, but "things are the same all over" comes to mind. It's when the observer in you becomes the observed, and then you question "why"? Maybe that's where the zen comes in, hopefully to save your sorry ass. Speaking figuratively , of course. I'm off ... care.

5:04 am  
Blogger bandit said...

it did it again. Fuck. leave it then ...

5:05 am  
Blogger bandit said...

doppelganger etc. etc. etc.

NSA has a program to pick from a suite to jack your ass whenever they like. Works well on Firefox, it'll re write your postings and such. Well, let's see how this one goes "Mark at Artemis" and 3-2-1-

5:10 am  
Blogger bandit said...

you have this problem often?

5:11 am  

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Friday, September 15, 2017

People watching

The big man has fallen. The drug lords financial persuader and enforcer was sacked a few months ago. He has fallen from the dizzy heights of being the drug cartels most feared intimidator, to nothing. The Smack Crack and Cocaine Emporium has continued without his services and in turn he has dragged himself into the gutter. No longer wearing designer clothes, he crawls around in ripped track suits and worn out trainers, inevitably clutching a can of Tyskie. I don't suppose it's any coincidence that a couple of months ago his wife kicked him out and he is now homeless as well. It's pitiful.
I take my dog to the park and Mallen walks by also holding his usual can of strong lager at 8:30 in the morning. he says "Good morning". he's not  the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's polite and harmless.  He stops to talk to the man with the square dog. I have never seen a dog that is so angular. Nature abhors straight lines but this dog defies nature. It's like a box with legs.
The Muslims who live in the end house make me laugh. I think they must have a sense of humour. The wife is dressed completely in a black burka you can only see her eyes, she says to me "Beautiful dog" pointing at Scout, then I notice it. Under her burka she is wearing bright fluorescent green training shoes. Then her husband comes out the house, he is in a Postmans uniform except he is wearing bright fluorescent Yellow training shoes.
Miss Amphetamine continues to speed up and down the road, she walks incredibly fast, she talks incredibly fast, she can't stay still. She doesn't have time to wash or do anything with her long unkempt hair she just has to get out the house and speed walk up and down the road all day. Whereas Mrs Slow is the exact opposite, everything in slow motion, frustratingly slow. if she is on the till aty the local shop I do a 180 and come back rather than stand in a queue for fifteen minutes while she very slowly and methodically picks up each item turns it around to look for the bar code and then very carefully scans it before slowly putting it into a bag. She reminds me of "Slow TV" where a fixed camera shows the progress of a ship on a 2 day cruise cruising up a fjord or a camera on a train taking an 8 hour trip up through Norway.
People come in many forms, they are all interesting in their own way.

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