John Smith was a typical family man, aged 52, he had taken early retirement from his job as an accountant for a large insurance company based in Leeds. After 30 years in the same job, he was offered a redundancy package he could not refuse. He had sold up and moved to a small holding above Pateley Bridge, where he had gone back to being ‘green’ as he told his friends.
“Best thing I ever did”, he would tell everyone, “Just me, the wife and our two kids. I would recommend it to anyone!”
Every month, he would try and visit an Auction Mart, sometimes Pateley Bridge or Otley, but he felt he had to go so he did not miss a bargain, but his wife always said the same thing, “What have you wasted money on that load of junk for?” His treasures consisted of lawn mowers that did not work, a tractor that would not run and his prize piece, a holey boat, which his wife called the colander?
Our story starts in June. John, climbed aboard his 4X4, as all people living in the country had to have one! Today he was off to Otley Auction Mart for their ‘sell anything’, Saturday monthly sale. He wondered what quality items he could buy today. Starting in the yard, he quickly moved inside the cattle stalls where the ‘better items’ were sold. He fancied a sideboard, some old record players (after all people say vinyl is making a comeback) and he was sure he could use a generator, which, at a guess, would not have been out of place in the World War (First)!
As the first part of the sale was ending, he was pleased to have purchased the sideboard for £10.00, the record players for £20.00 and the generator, must be the bargain of the day at only £85.00, okay so it needed some cleaning up and a new tyre to move it!
In the next hall, something caught his eye, there were some birds, and even a couple of sheep and a goat! John could not believe his luck, yes, he had a few hens, but lot 128 was for four hens and a young goose. This was too good to be true, a goose for Christmas dinner and at £8.75 for the lot, what a bargain, even his wife would approve of this package, she was always saying they could do with a few more hens and a free Christmas dinner thrown in. Forget the sheep, he felt, and to be truthful he had not much time for sheep, but the goat was promising. You can get milk out of a goat, can’t you?
After arranging with Joe to deliver certain items to his house later that day, John loaded up his prize exhibits, the record players, the goat and his birds into his pickup and headed for Pateley Bridge. Arriving home in the late afternoon, he took the record players into the house where he was met with a “You can take those mucky things out into your workshop or the bin, I’m not bothered which,” by his loving wife.
“I’ve got some more hens and a goose which we can fatten up for Christmas Dinner, and Joe is bringing some more things up later today. Oh, I’ve also bought a goat”, John added. The good thing about living on a small holding is that you have plenty of room, one building was used as a workshop, another for keeping the hens, goose, and goat in, the biggest building was used as a storeroom to house the collection of rare and collectable items including six broken lawn mowers, the boat and tractor, amongst other things.
The hens and goose seem to settle into their new home and each day they were allowed to wander around their yard, but they were always bedded down at night in their home. The children, Jayne aged 6 and John junior aged 8 took great care in cleaning out the bird house, once a month. Not only did they feed them, but also seemed to feed the pigeons who seemed to be able to find their way in and out of the building. Eggs we plentiful and the goose, who seemed to command everything, strutted around totally in charge. When outside she made a great guard, making a repeated noise when anyone came near and warning the family of intruders who should not be there.
She quickly became a star and loved nothing better than to walk into the kitchen and see what everyone was up to. If the door was not open, then she would knock using her beak. When the door was opened, she would enter and give you a dirty look as if to say, who locked that door. Her big problem was that she would often leave ‘little presents’ on the kitchen floor which luckily had a vinyl covering. Once she did make it into the front room only to leave a ‘little present’ on the carpet, where upon she was informed that, “She would not live to Christmas”.
The months rolled on by and the nights got colder, and the days got shorter. There was even a hint of frost and a touch of snow by late October. The birds seemed to think that they were much better off in their barn rather than going outside and freezing to death, except one, the goose, who would still walk around the yard till she could find someone she knew, then she wagged her tail and nuzzled up to you with her beak. It was as if she was one of the family, which in some ways she was.
November started with the first major snowfall which blocked the roads, the biting wind drove the temperatures down to below freezing and even the goose refused to leave her warm barn. In fact, all the birds and of course the goat would not budge. John reckoned that there were only five weeks left for the goose to live, and eight weeks to Christmas. The goose seemed to be having the time of its life, still commanding and running everything. John looked at her. When the time came, could he turn her into their Christmas dinner, he wondered, could he?
The first week in December, the fateful day arrived, with bated breath he entered the barn, he had practised what he had to do. The goose stepped towards him, he held his breath, what could he tell the kids, even his wife had been funny, well funnier than usual. If only he had not bought the birds, if only he had not gone to the auction. Why him, what could he do?
Christmas day arrived and the Smith Family sat down to their Christmas dinner, the potatoes, the sprouts and carrots, Yorkshire pudding, gravy, pigs in blankets, and majestically on a plate of its own…. the meatless nut roast!
© Story Copyright SBRS. All rights reserved.
“Best thing I ever did”, he would tell everyone, “Just me, the wife and our two kids. I would recommend it to anyone!”
Every month, he would try and visit an Auction Mart, sometimes Pateley Bridge or Otley, but he felt he had to go so he did not miss a bargain, but his wife always said the same thing, “What have you wasted money on that load of junk for?” His treasures consisted of lawn mowers that did not work, a tractor that would not run and his prize piece, a holey boat, which his wife called the colander?
Our story starts in June. John, climbed aboard his 4X4, as all people living in the country had to have one! Today he was off to Otley Auction Mart for their ‘sell anything’, Saturday monthly sale. He wondered what quality items he could buy today. Starting in the yard, he quickly moved inside the cattle stalls where the ‘better items’ were sold. He fancied a sideboard, some old record players (after all people say vinyl is making a comeback) and he was sure he could use a generator, which, at a guess, would not have been out of place in the World War (First)!
As the first part of the sale was ending, he was pleased to have purchased the sideboard for £10.00, the record players for £20.00 and the generator, must be the bargain of the day at only £85.00, okay so it needed some cleaning up and a new tyre to move it!
In the next hall, something caught his eye, there were some birds, and even a couple of sheep and a goat! John could not believe his luck, yes, he had a few hens, but lot 128 was for four hens and a young goose. This was too good to be true, a goose for Christmas dinner and at £8.75 for the lot, what a bargain, even his wife would approve of this package, she was always saying they could do with a few more hens and a free Christmas dinner thrown in. Forget the sheep, he felt, and to be truthful he had not much time for sheep, but the goat was promising. You can get milk out of a goat, can’t you?
After arranging with Joe to deliver certain items to his house later that day, John loaded up his prize exhibits, the record players, the goat and his birds into his pickup and headed for Pateley Bridge. Arriving home in the late afternoon, he took the record players into the house where he was met with a “You can take those mucky things out into your workshop or the bin, I’m not bothered which,” by his loving wife.
“I’ve got some more hens and a goose which we can fatten up for Christmas Dinner, and Joe is bringing some more things up later today. Oh, I’ve also bought a goat”, John added. The good thing about living on a small holding is that you have plenty of room, one building was used as a workshop, another for keeping the hens, goose, and goat in, the biggest building was used as a storeroom to house the collection of rare and collectable items including six broken lawn mowers, the boat and tractor, amongst other things.
The hens and goose seem to settle into their new home and each day they were allowed to wander around their yard, but they were always bedded down at night in their home. The children, Jayne aged 6 and John junior aged 8 took great care in cleaning out the bird house, once a month. Not only did they feed them, but also seemed to feed the pigeons who seemed to be able to find their way in and out of the building. Eggs we plentiful and the goose, who seemed to command everything, strutted around totally in charge. When outside she made a great guard, making a repeated noise when anyone came near and warning the family of intruders who should not be there.
She quickly became a star and loved nothing better than to walk into the kitchen and see what everyone was up to. If the door was not open, then she would knock using her beak. When the door was opened, she would enter and give you a dirty look as if to say, who locked that door. Her big problem was that she would often leave ‘little presents’ on the kitchen floor which luckily had a vinyl covering. Once she did make it into the front room only to leave a ‘little present’ on the carpet, where upon she was informed that, “She would not live to Christmas”.
The months rolled on by and the nights got colder, and the days got shorter. There was even a hint of frost and a touch of snow by late October. The birds seemed to think that they were much better off in their barn rather than going outside and freezing to death, except one, the goose, who would still walk around the yard till she could find someone she knew, then she wagged her tail and nuzzled up to you with her beak. It was as if she was one of the family, which in some ways she was.
November started with the first major snowfall which blocked the roads, the biting wind drove the temperatures down to below freezing and even the goose refused to leave her warm barn. In fact, all the birds and of course the goat would not budge. John reckoned that there were only five weeks left for the goose to live, and eight weeks to Christmas. The goose seemed to be having the time of its life, still commanding and running everything. John looked at her. When the time came, could he turn her into their Christmas dinner, he wondered, could he?
The first week in December, the fateful day arrived, with bated breath he entered the barn, he had practised what he had to do. The goose stepped towards him, he held his breath, what could he tell the kids, even his wife had been funny, well funnier than usual. If only he had not bought the birds, if only he had not gone to the auction. Why him, what could he do?
Christmas day arrived and the Smith Family sat down to their Christmas dinner, the potatoes, the sprouts and carrots, Yorkshire pudding, gravy, pigs in blankets, and majestically on a plate of its own…. the meatless nut roast!
© Story Copyright SBRS. All rights reserved.