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My Prodigious Scales
Feb. 9th, 2011 07:41 pmI thought I should do something for my holidays, otherwise I will go back to work next week and people will ask if I did anything exciting and I will have to say, 'Oh, well, I had my hair cut and my eyes checked.' So I went to see The King's Speech last night and enjoyed it, mostly. Every time I see Guy Pearce in something I always think, remember when he was in Neighbours and played second fiddle to Jason Donovan? How times change.
Today, even more excitingly, I have been to Port Fairy, the town around the bay from the City by the Sea, to watch the 2011 Commonwealth Championship Sheepdog Trials. Oh, yes. Here is some of the action:
I don't know if any of you, f-list, have been to sheepdog trials. I hadn't. What happens is this: the 'worker' (usually an elderly man) stands at one end of a field and three sheep are released at the other end. The worker has to stand still while directing his dog to bring the sheep up the field and around the worker. Once this happens, the worker can walk, but has to keep the sheep on his right hand side at all times. Bearing that in mind, he directs his dog to take the sheep back down the field and through a series of obstacles of the sort that they might find on a farm. First the dog has to get the sheep through a narrow gate in a fence, then through a race (a narrow passageway), up a ramp and finally into a little pen. Once they're in the pen, the worker closes the gate and a little beeper goes off. If they're not finished in fifteen minutes, they're disqualified.
I was really there because my mother told me that when she went a couple of years ago, they put on a little entertainment during the lunch break, in which one of the workers and his dog did the course with three ducks instead of three sheep. No ducks this year, alas, but there was a display: a worker rounding up three sheep with three dogs instead of one, with special commentary by Pip Hudson, an old man who is apparently a big cheese in the sheepdog trial world. At one point, the sheep got away from all three dogs and Pip Hudson said, 'No! Wouldn't that gap your axe?' I have no idea what that means, but it's going to be my new exclamation when things go wrong.
All the dogs have two names: a regular name prefixed by the name of the property they live on. I've got the program here: Singlines Wes, Tunglia Jasper, Armitages Gem, Springvale Darcy, Yandarra Frost, Roseneath Baz, and, my favourite, El'Shamah Madge. And one dog of mystery known only as Tweed. One dog that I watched, Sting, couldn't find his sheep. Even for sheep, these were a particularly dopey lot that just stayed in the holding pen when the gate was opened, and poor Sting didn't think of looking there. He was just out for a run. Another dog, Maisie, got her sheep to the finishing pen in ten minutes, only to have them spend five minutes refusing to go in. The time buzzer went off and she was disqualified.
( Real action )
A few years ago, I wrote about a man who was building a replica Portuguese caravel in his back yard. As you do. Anyway, he's finished and it's afloat in Port Fairy, so I stopped and had a look on the way home.
( Close ups )
Also, I bought a book of stamps. Germaine Greer has her own stamp now. I just thought you'd like to know.
Today, even more excitingly, I have been to Port Fairy, the town around the bay from the City by the Sea, to watch the 2011 Commonwealth Championship Sheepdog Trials. Oh, yes. Here is some of the action:
I don't know if any of you, f-list, have been to sheepdog trials. I hadn't. What happens is this: the 'worker' (usually an elderly man) stands at one end of a field and three sheep are released at the other end. The worker has to stand still while directing his dog to bring the sheep up the field and around the worker. Once this happens, the worker can walk, but has to keep the sheep on his right hand side at all times. Bearing that in mind, he directs his dog to take the sheep back down the field and through a series of obstacles of the sort that they might find on a farm. First the dog has to get the sheep through a narrow gate in a fence, then through a race (a narrow passageway), up a ramp and finally into a little pen. Once they're in the pen, the worker closes the gate and a little beeper goes off. If they're not finished in fifteen minutes, they're disqualified.
I was really there because my mother told me that when she went a couple of years ago, they put on a little entertainment during the lunch break, in which one of the workers and his dog did the course with three ducks instead of three sheep. No ducks this year, alas, but there was a display: a worker rounding up three sheep with three dogs instead of one, with special commentary by Pip Hudson, an old man who is apparently a big cheese in the sheepdog trial world. At one point, the sheep got away from all three dogs and Pip Hudson said, 'No! Wouldn't that gap your axe?' I have no idea what that means, but it's going to be my new exclamation when things go wrong.
All the dogs have two names: a regular name prefixed by the name of the property they live on. I've got the program here: Singlines Wes, Tunglia Jasper, Armitages Gem, Springvale Darcy, Yandarra Frost, Roseneath Baz, and, my favourite, El'Shamah Madge. And one dog of mystery known only as Tweed. One dog that I watched, Sting, couldn't find his sheep. Even for sheep, these were a particularly dopey lot that just stayed in the holding pen when the gate was opened, and poor Sting didn't think of looking there. He was just out for a run. Another dog, Maisie, got her sheep to the finishing pen in ten minutes, only to have them spend five minutes refusing to go in. The time buzzer went off and she was disqualified.
( Real action )
A few years ago, I wrote about a man who was building a replica Portuguese caravel in his back yard. As you do. Anyway, he's finished and it's afloat in Port Fairy, so I stopped and had a look on the way home.
( Close ups )
Also, I bought a book of stamps. Germaine Greer has her own stamp now. I just thought you'd like to know.