Toni

A local resident or better character, known throughout the county and Allgäu as "Bello". Our most notorious resident. Hardly a day passes when I don't meet him somewhere on a track while out walking the dogs.

Toni is a multi-talented master of everything. He can run and even build discos, build tennis courts, hunt, fish, farm sheep, trade in sawn wood, keep fallow deer, snort tobacco, maintain meadows and make hay .......... It's easier to list what he can't do.

He was one of the first to visit us when we moved in. Always keen to know what is going on in his "patch". With a "cultivated" bottle of Augustiner beer and sitting comfortably on an empty beer crate, he was able to give us some useful advice on the building site and indeed provided several bits of machines and tools to help us with our efforts.

He does have the shooting rights on two of the three sides of our property and even a hide. There were more but they have succumbed to old age. However, he knows "Knickohr" deer is off limits. Knickohr (Bent Ear or better Torn Ear) has been at the house this week with two of her offspring enjoying the quiet of the closed season.

Toni was a long way off as I drove over the rise for the morning walk, but he spotted me, stopped and drove backwards with his tractor to the spot he knew I would park at.

He needed information. He had heard that Angie had posted something on Facebook about a dog being poisoned by bait supposedly meant to harm dogs walking at the nearby lakes. So I updated him on what I knew. It's quite possible there is something in the story as the original source seems to be solid. Apparently, the parish council have denied it and even the police have been involved. They have not instigated a search as the "victim's" owner would have to pay the 1,800€ search fee, if nothing found. The dog thank goodness survived and is OK now. The lakes are probably safe for the moment as building works have just started with massive earth movements turning the walking tracks into mud tracks.

We will see what develops when the outdoor swimming season begins and more people about - the dog haters and the dog owners. I personally avoid the area during the summer.

There followed a further short chat about what is or isn't going on with the earthworks at the lakes - Toni has the fishing rights to one of them and possibly even the land rights. I can't work out who does what there. I do know that MrB has the shooting rights, not Toni.

And then we parted, he to transport a bale of hay up to his fallow deer in a nearby reservation and Flash and me for a stroll to the village and back, greeting the other family walkers on their Sunday outings. Very cold though, not getting above freezing but pleasant if in a wind protected and sun-soaked corner.