Squirrel in MENCAP gardens, Wilford
Today, in a massive senior moment, I made an even greater fool of myself than usual. Walking through to the front room with a plate of mustard mash with spring onions, mashed carrot and parsnip, brussels and haggis, I stumbled on a box we had carelessly left close to where I put my feet.
I had previously remarked on the fact that we needed to take care we put things during the move as I am not that steady on my feet. The stiffening of foot and ankle joints has robbed me of my former agility, and even in my prime nobody, let’s be honest, ever mistook me for a dancer.
Squirrel in a bin – Clitheroe Castle
So there I am, walking past a box with a plateful of squishy food in my hand, poised in mid anecdote. It’s not a picture that reflects credit on either our standards of housekeeping or my culinary efforts. Of course, I caught my foot. I shuffled, overbalanced and fell with all the grace of a giant redwood falling under the assault of a lumberjack. However, that was where the resemblance ended. There is some philosophical talk of whether or not a tree makes noise when nobody is there to hear it. Well, we don’t know about trees, but I can tell you that I make a noise when I fall. It’s a word that shouldn’t be used in polite company and it tails off towards the end. Julia says it was one of the most plaintiff uses of the word she has ever heard, as I slowly toppled . . .
She was also much impressed by my grace as I twisted in mid-air and managed to place the plate on a chair before coming to rest on my elbows, also on the chair, with the plate of food three inches from my face.
Squirrel on bird table (and fly on squirrel)
I’m not sure how many times I have fallen now – but I’m lucky it’s still the sort of thing I can use as material for a post. Give it a few years and it won’t be quite so funny. However, give it a few years and I’ll have an electric mobility scooter and a whole new selection of ludicrous anecdotes of near disasters.
A man of limited attention span with arthritis and an electric mobility scooter, living next to a country park with miles of paths which are on the edges of old gravel pits . . .
What could possibly go wrong?
The header picture is our new squirrel, taken through the vertical blinds of our new kitchen. Not the most technically satisfactory picture, but I was afraid I might scare it if I moved to photograph it. The other pictures are a selection of my other squirrel photos.
Grey Squirrel
