Duck herding

The collective noun is a raft of ducks (actually there seem to be several collectives! Hoorah for more ways to be vexatious in conversation!).

On Friday (when I was on holiday... working on immigration crises -- grrrr), there was a little amusing break in the day which began when I glanced out the dining room window (which other than in working hours is blocked by a large white panel van) and saw a multitude of ducks come waddling up the drive!

E managed to take a picture of them, before heading on his way back to work.

And then the herding began. They started wandering into the main road (our address is 'Main Road'), so E bravely went forth and stopped traffic and the bus. The ducks were intended to head back to this side of the road, but instead decided to cross the road fully and go to the car dealership diagonal across the road and mill about under and between cars.

My sole contribution was to go inside and get some bread (which was pretty pointless since ducks need water for to eat zee bread). A biker guy sitting out in the sun on the patio at The Dog Inn saw the predicament and came out to help. So in a lull in traffic, E (chief herder) and the biker and I steered the ducks (quacking a blue streak) across the road, aiming for the alley that runs along the neighbors' house and towards the Common (a much better place for ducks than the main road, and also with the amenity of a p-o-n-d).

E only needed a floppy hat and a little crook as he headed off down the lane behind the ducks. I think I shall make him one. A manly one, naturally. Camoflauge maybe? And some fishing lures to decorate the crook...

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Oh dear, oh dear. Someone has taken the notion and turned it into a corporate activity! For your own amusement, just google 'duck herding'; shockingly most of the returns are UK-based. This is kind of what I feel like at work most of the time, anyway :)