We had a pretty lazy day again yesterday: dragged the boys round Tesco, ate a lot, sat around, etc, so we decided to round off Mum’s last day with a bit of excitement and drive into Dublin to get a meal before she headed off to the airport.
So, we arranged to meet Hubby at 6pm and set off at around 5pm to get to Dublin. We pulled out of the house, all chatting away quite happily, drove up the lane and then…all of a sudden from nowhere a sheep ran out of a gap in the hedge and straight in front of us! I didn’t really have time to react, other than to shout: ‘SHEEEEEP!’, slam on the anchors and hope for the best, and before we knew it there was a screeching of brakes, a huge bang and then a sickening lurching as we went over it. We came to rest in the grass verge up against the hedge and sat, stunned for a minute, before looking round, expecting the worst. We were surprised, then to see the poor thing stumble up onto the verge and collapse.
Talking about it afterwards, we all agreed that had the sheep kept running, we would have missed it, but right at the last minute it doubled back. There was also a car coming towards us so I had little choice but to slam on the brakes and hope to stop. It was that, or swerve into the path of an oncoming car. Not much choice really. Anyway, the man in the other car stopped (possibly thankful that I chose to hit the sheep and not him) and offered to phone a vet, but I reassured him that I knew the farmer and rang A on my mobile. The conversation went something like this:
Me: ‘Hi A, it’s me. I’m so sorry I’ve killed one of the sheep…the poor thing…it just jumped out in front of my car up the lane. Well, that is, I think it’s dead…its little eyes are closed and it’s lying on the verge just past the back entrance to the farm. I braked really hard but I just couldn’t stop in time I’m so sorry. There was a car coming towards me and I just couldn’t avoid it… we skidded into it and the poor thing…’
A: ‘No bother. Leave it there. I’ll send one of the hands.’
And that, dear reader, is the crux of life in the country. We were shocked and upset. The thought of a living creature in pain, or worse, killed by my own hand (well, jeep) is terrible. Awful. I really was very disturbed by the whole thing. We all were. But to A, well, I suppose at the worst way it meant that he’d lost some money, but to farming folk life and death are everyday occurrences and don’t really warrant a second thought. Mind you, A’s sheep are particularly errant, living wherever they fancy, which is often in our garden. I’ve given up telling him as he doesn’t really worry.
Anyhoo, we drove up to the farm anyway, just to tell one of the farm hands exactly where it was, checked the car out (the insignia fell off but other than that it appeared unscathed) and then continued on our way. I called my friend J to tell her all about it and in the background could hear C laughing his head off. Later I sent him a text and said ’stop! It’s not funny’. And his reply?: ‘I know. I’m sorry. Enjoy your kebabs’.