C’mon Over to the Park Side…
Tod
Today There Were Three of Us
…It’ll be really cool.
Actually, quite cold.
In fact, pretty freezing.
Nevertheless, I am sticking with my Friday Plunge Pledge. And today I saw something I haven’t seen for years…
Fat Ducks in Non-Stealth Mode
The Blackheath Fat Duck
As mentioned in an earlier post, the Blackheath Fat Duck lives on BBQ leftovers and beer and frequents the Pool Park and the Pool. When you first meet a Fat Duck it is polite to greet them with,
“My Oath, you’re fat!”
They will be pleased that you have noticed. Their fatness reflects well on their ability to intimidate Blackheathens into handing over food, beer and, anecdotally, the keys to Steve’s ute. They will waddle happily up to you. Feed them quickly or they will pooh on your feet.
When they fly, it can be seen that the Blackheath Fat Duck, although dark brown on top, has a pale belly and under wing. This leads to a strange phenomenon claimed by some to be an evolutionary survival mechanism: When the Fat Duck flies over the pool, the pale feathers reflect the blue of the pool. On a fine day, this allows the ducks to fly over the pool unseen from beneath allowing them to count the swimmers in the pool, compare this number to the bags and Pool Patrons on the benches and work out the probability of a raid on any particular unaccompanied bag yielding bread and sausages.
Some authorities have pointed out that, given the tiny number of days in the year when the sky in Blackheath is blue, this is hardly a survival trait. The rebuttal to this argument, of course, is that on days when the sky isn’t blue, no-one is at the pool so it doesn’t matter.
I’m not sure Darwin would support that.
For the pool to survive, of course, more of us have to develop a compulsion to go swimming at least once a week.
See you there. Bring bread.
