After writing my posting on global warming, I noticed another item in today's "Daily Telegraph". Having a dog who invariably attacks the morning postman given half a chance, I felt a great sense of relief in reading about the Withington pheasant and some of you might like to share it.
(Actually, all lifeforms in the Cotswold countryside are pretty aggressive. A few days ago my wife and I were chased by a bovine and only just managed to scramble over a barbed-wire fence with greatly disarranged coiffures and some torn clothing. Had it been a bull, or even a delinquent bullock, then we might have retained a little dignity, but it was a cow, so help me.) Here's the aggressive pheasant: <<<< Postman is fair game for pheasant Richard Savill Dogs have traditionally been the foe of postmen. However, in the Cotswold village of Withington, Geoffrey Sandles has complained that the belligerence of a pheasant has made it difficult for him to deliver his mail. The bird, which lurks in the oldest part of the village, between St Michael and All Saints Church and the Mill Inn, has regularly pursued him up garden paths and has followed his van. "He once launched himself straight at me from behind a gate as I was going in," said Mr Sandles, 45, a postman for 24 years. "I get the odd dog snarling at me, and in the past I've had a few bites. But I've seen nothing like this." Mr Sandles, Withington's postman for the past year, said he had to be constantly alert, watching for the pheasant, which he has nicknamed "Psycho", to jump out. "Pheasants are usually called pea-brained, but this one certainly isn't. I think he is out to get me. He waits for my van to arrive, runs after it and then after me when I get out. "The bird has flown over a five-barred gate straight at me. Another time he ran through the village and was still going half a mile later. "I asked a gamekeeper what the fascination was and he said it could be because I am intruding on his territory." Mr Sandles also has a theory that the bird was seeking revenge after another pheasant in a nearby village was killed by a van drive by a postman. >>>> __________________________________________________________ “Writers used to write because they had something to say; now they write in order to discover if they have something to say.” John D. Barrow _________________________________________________ Keith Hudson, Bath, England; e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________
