Geese in the garden

James, Ally, Davie and Cat dropped me off at Kerry Airport on Tuesday afternoon, because I was going to fly back to Scotland for Katy’s funeral. My journey went smoothly, apart from being caught with a 200g jar of Avoca Café tomato chutney at Dublin Airport. It’s a present for our tomato-loving friend Ewan. I had forgotten that chutney would be perceived as a liquid and of course the limit for liquids is 100g. Instead of making me discard it, the kindly official let it go through in my tray, and told me that if anyone asked about it, I should say that I have it for “dietary reasons.” I did so, and all was well. 

When I was changing planes at Dublin airport on my way home, I started to get unusual messages from neighbours at home. First, Suzy sent me a photo of some geese in her garden. This is not a usual occurrence around here; the geese are only to be seen in Holmhills Park up the hill, and that’s where they stay. James has been observing them during his morning walks. Presumably these were the same geese. There were a mother goose, a father goose and six goslings. The goslings are quite big but still very sweet and fluffy looking. By the time I messaged Suzy back, she said that the geese had left her garden. The next thing I got a message from Carmelle across the road. More pictures of the geese, but this time they were in our front garden! I received updates from Carmelle and from Christine next door over the next couple of hours. The geese got themselves trapped behind our gate, and were milling about. So Kyle went round to release them. The geese crossed the road and had a pit stop in Dougie’s garage. By this time our lovely concerned neighbours decided to escort them on their journey, which they guessed was the river Clyde, so that they wouldn’t get run over on the Main Street on their way. Christine told me of their adventures the next day. The geese walked along Cadzow Drive, shadowed closely by Paul, Christine and Dougie, down Westcoats, and then all the way back along Hamilton Drive! Then down Greenlees Road, and after their rescuers dissuaded them from a wrong turn towards the bakery, they continued across the Main Street, and down Clydeford Road to the river. This took about two and a half hours! Christine told me that they seemed very happy to get into the river, they had likely been out of water for about ten hours by this point. They quacked loudly and swam about. Paul, Christine and Dougie are my heroes! It just shows that there are some lovely people in this world.