The stanchion on the roof of a Royal Mail letter box, projects through the snow in a brave statement of pre-eminence.As I walk beside a shrubbery at the edge of The Grove I hear a crash and a rustling sound. Is it an an animal or bird scampering among the branches? No, it is layers of snow falling from the holly and laurel trees. The snow is melting.
The squirrels in The Grove are rarely tame enough to approach human beings and they are dead scared of the dogs which accompany humans, and with reason. But this morning a squirrel, spoilt perhaps by being fed peanuts or the like, comes up to me and puts its forepaws together as if it has been trained to do so, in a fawning act of mendicancy It doesn't like my camera and, realizing probably that there are no nuts forthcoming from this quarter, hares off down the path.
1 comment:
Wonderful word stanchion; it should be dragged into as many conversations and written observations as possible. I suppose there may be an etymological link with "staunch". Certainly the idea of a stanchion failing seems almost a contradiction in terms.
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