Out and About

A day of sorting things - well the beginning and end of the day was, the middle part I crashed! tavistock first to get Locusts, chicken corn and fish food. On the way I spotted the old gent had been Yarn Bombed again, so on the way back I stopped to take photos and discovered it was for a street party to celebrate the Queens 90th birthday - Calstock is not doing anything for the day but Gunnislake is a whole other village! I popped into the Post Office to send off my postal vote for in or out of Europe vote where I bumped into the ex-ferryman and we had a conversation about how detached people were from the source of their food and the reality of frolicking  lambs, pretty pink pigs and beguiling cows eyes being the source of their sunday roast or fry up. All prompted by the best way to put a sick chicken out of it's misery - pretty prescient as it turned out.Anyway - Gunnislake also has a summer scarecrow display, which must be Nursery  themed going by one house which had Little Bo Peep, Rapunzel, Little Miss Moffat and The Gingerbread Man outside their house!
Next into the village to pay for a Food safari I am going on saturday evening - on the way to the house to give my cheque to the organiser I stopped at the Cafe and had an espresso and a slice of cream cake with Rhubarb and Ginger jam! Well it was time for elevenses! Also discovered they do amazing lunches, which one couple declared was too posh for them upon asking what was on - hummus and quiche not to their liking! Had a chat with the Coop member who is doing some shifts there and lamented on the current run of sickness we have had - oh dear, prescient again.
Next stop the Dress and Repair shop as having mislaid the key to my  vintage picnic  suitcase for months, upon finding it I still could not open it. Turns out the raised round part where the key was inserted had to be slid to the left/right! I had just said there was no discernable marks to say this was what needed doing, and obviously had not tried to do it although I had sprayed it with WD40! I was both delighted and dismayed - how stupid did I feel!
Next stop Art gallery on the off chance they were collecting the money for the safari as it starts there with drinks - they were not but had lovely flowers from the allotment on display! So on to the Steam Packet House - no one in but the door was open so I left the cheque with a note on the washing machine which was in midcycle! Also discovered more bird wallpaper - the house is still being renovated and they are working from the top down! So back to the dress shop to pick up my hamper and home!
next stop Friends as she was having her modem replaced by a woman in the village - she should have asked me to do it as was not rocket science! As it was she was exhausted so went to bed and I dealt with the modem woman and discovered an old computer is the best modem one can create!
Finally home and headache looming - too much rushing around in another beltingly hot day - I took to my bed for several hours! Finally woke head free and set off for the allotment to do watering - which is when I discovered another sick chicken - she had been in the coop the other day in the evening and was there again today - I took her out and she ate but upon locking up later I discovered there were only 11 in the coop - I looked in the smaller coop and there she was. I had locked the coop earlier to give the broody twosome some time outside and she must have gone in the small one then. So despite a lovely evening on the allotment with a good old burn in the incinerator with 1 match used, i left despondent. She is the oldest chicken, bought at a poultry auction when we first started the coop, so I guess it's her time, but oh dear will it never end this summer till they are all dead?  I put a plea out on the group Facebook page for someone to take her to the vets - but Colourful Mai suggested contacting a guy in the village to do it who was raised on a farm- cheaper and less hassle - but I hope he knows what he is doing as the one and only time I did it with someone who said they knew how to it was not quick nor easy. 
So that was my day in words and photos - tomorrow I will check on Alice and see if she unequivocally does need a merciful death.