A Day Out With The Deerness

Andy and I were just performing a perfect backfill; the spoil was heaped up above the level of the surrounding soil to allow for slight settling. The scene of the dig was then covered with handfuls of discarded sycamore leaves; all in all, we were pleased with our covert handywork. This was the first day of 2004 and we had just experienced a shallow, but memorable dig to our young bitch Womble. So far, this Xmas break had been one of the best ever, only the day before we had accomplished a successful beat, the Lurchers catching a brace of our intended quarry with no trouble at all. After this first dig of the season I doubted that it could get any better, but it did!

As we scanned behind us to ensure that we had not inadvertently left a torch or net lying on the ground my mobile began to vibrate under the many layers of clothes. On retrieving the said handset I found that it was Neil the Pretend Traveller on the other end. It quickly transpired that there was a couple of spare places available out with a pirate pack of hounds and would we like to go? Our all too predictable answer was, of course,