Hitching a lift
Jonathan >
This morning, on my way home from the croft, I was flagged down by an Eriskay pony. She was tall and snowy white, and thus entitled to the respect due to elders. I wound down the window and asked her “A bheil sibh trang?” [‘Are you busy?’ : a conventional Gaelic greeting.] “Uamhasach trang!” [Awesomely busy], she replied. She’d missed the bus, and was at risk of missing the connection for her appointment : she’d seen I had the trailer with me, and wondered whether I might give her a lift down north. I said er, well, yes, at least part of the way. She turned her head and neighed, and all her extended family sprang out from behind the rocky hillock. Hmmm, I thought, how to wriggle out of this one? Where I are you going, I asked? She replied “I’ve got a book signing to do in Hay-on-Wye”. “Oh how funny, how very funny”, I said, with as much irony as I was capable of intoning between my teeth. I wound up the window, and drove off, muttering to myself, “Is there anyone more desperate for laughs than a wannabe stand-up comedian?”
Eriskay Ponies hitching a lift
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Are there really wild ponies in Scotland?!?
D > Yes indeed. At some places they are truly feral, At others – as in Eriskay, they are minimally managed, eg for health checks, tagging of foals, but otherwise left to roam the island and fend for themselves.
Aren’t they beautiful? 🙂 🙂 And you did make me smile.
J > She didn’t miss it, she refused to board the bus because the driver was unable to confirm whether or not the seats are stuffed with horsehair. She thinks that giving away signed copies would be beneath her.
Had they missed it or did it just never arrive? I know they were waiting for the bus a few posts back. She could have offered you a signed copy too; that might have swayed you. 😉
Tee-hee! Those ponies!
Wow, they are very friendly. Beautiful too!