SHEEP: 8.30am. I opened the front door and Amelie stepped outside.
Suddenly I heard her laughing. “What are you laughing at?” I asked her. “The sheep” she replied. At this point I feel I must point out we don’t live on a farm. the nearest farm is a good half mile away minimum. You also have to cross the A483 to get to it. “What sheep?” I asked. “The sheep in the front garden”.
I stepped outside and sure enough there was a front garden containing approximately six sheep and one bemused community policewoman. “You don’t know where they are from do you?” she asked.
I didn’t have a clue. Amelie helpfully suggested they belonged to a farmer which I’m sure hadn’t occurred to her at that point. “Send them round the back though” I said, “it needs mowing, it might save me time...”
The following morning Amelie came bounding in to our bedroom. “What’s in the garden this morning?” Anna asked her, “cows, pigs?”
“No, sheep” Amelie replied. Yeah right, time to make coffee. Around five minutes later Amelie looked at me, quite earnestly. “Daddy, there really are sheep in the garden...”
And sure enough, for the second morning in row, six sheep – only this time no bemused policewoman.
So we rang her... she’d already had reports, but by the time she reached us they’d moved on. It was like they were commando sheep, sneaking from garden to garden if you took your eyes of them for just a moment.
Wednesday morning came and it was quite frankly disappointing to find the garden empty, that was that, sheep adventures over... or was it?
Thursday came and Anna at mid morning reported the sheep spotted in our garden. Later they were cornered around the back of playgroup.
These are sheep with spirit. They’ve clearly got bored with life in one field and they’re exploring Llanymynech.
They’ve found some tasty grass, and they’re not letting simple things like the A483... and indeed fences... get in the way of their enjoyment.
BETTING: I seem to have developed an annoying habit – nearly winning on the football. One game short...
I like to bet the odd spare coin from my pocket on the football, it adds a bit of excitement to Final Score.
I have just two rules: never bet on my own team and never bet more than £1. The first rule is broken only ever when Doncaster play Liverpool in the FA Cup and the bookies are offering 500-1 on a 6-0 win and my heart over rules my head and says ‘could be’...
On Saturday I was just two games short of winning about £14k. Southampton and Norwich finished 2-2 (I had it for a home win) and Carlisle lost at home to Swindon (again I had it down as a home win).
Then on Tuesday night I was even nearer – but as usual one game let me down. MK Dons lost a seven-goal thriller with Carlisle and I had pencilled it down for a home win.
The moral of this story? Don’t bet? Don’t bet on Carlisle? I think the rot set in many years ago on a night of Coca Cola Cup action.
I correctly predicted the outcome of more than 25 matches that night, including a few wayward results that really shouldn’t have happened.
I got one wrong. Manchester United lost 3-0 at home to York City. I’ve hated York City ever since that fateful night.
But, rest assured, I’ll win one day...