Friday, March 13, 2015

PETER BURLEIGH , SNAKES AND DRACULA ON THE PROWL

A sweaty runner  has  delivered a message from our roaming francophile  correspondent  , Peter Burleigh , telling  of yet  another  encounter with  a  large  reptile . Readers  will  recall that  intrepid  Burleigh has  had several skirmishes   with  snakes  in  his  NSW island residence  and finished   off one serpent , a  venous Black Snake , which  invaded his house ,  by  nervously sucking  it  into  a  fancy  , new - age  Dyson  cleaner.

This  blog  ran his  brave  fight with  that snake  in great  detail and  mentioned his  unsolicited  testimonial for  the  machine’s  powerful snake removal  quality , in  expectation  that  the  firm would  give him a  free  one , plus   a set of steak knives , and  send along a  cash  donation to  defray his  travel  expenses in the outback  and  overseas, churning out golden prose  and illustrations for  Little  Darwin , the only recompense received from us being an old   Bank of  Egypt  one pound note  , exceedingly  hard  and dangerous  to  cash in  downtown  Cairo .   As  the cleaner  company  did not respond , we  refuse  to   give  it  any  further  publicity  and  hope  its  tubes  clog   up .

Pete’s  latest   snake  episode   involved   Monty, one of  two  large   local pythons, which swallowed  two possums  and  then  slumbered   outside   the  front  door  for  three   days  until they  had  been digested . Stepping  out  the  front  door  heighted  Peter’s  awareness   of  the   surroundings .     
 
Adder
In a far  corner  of  this writer’s island  abode in QLD is  an area where a neighbour said he  had seen not one but two  Death  Adders. No such  snakes  have been seen since  then  but recently a  Black Snake was seen  sunning itself  at  a nearby shed and  crawled away  while I dashed  off  to  get  the  camera. 

Close  to sunset  last week I ventured into Death Adder Territory , very alert, to cut off a damaged frangipani  branch . Closely checking  the  ground  for Adders, I gave a start  when sudden movement by  a brown  mass  caught my eye  on  the  other side of  the  fence ... Dracula , the cheese  eating  Coucal. Greeting him  by name and throwing  in a few   conversational  Whoop! Whoops!, this resulted  in  him  pressing  up  against  the  wire  and  looking  at  me . 

Boo!
Slipping inside for the camera, I informed my wife  that  Dracula  was visiting  , and returned to  the  dangerous corner   . No  Dracula  could be seen .  Walked up and down   going Whoop! Whoop!-camera ready to  snap  my  old   friend .  In  the event of  men  in white coats suddenly   arriving  and  attempting to drag me off , I  would explain that I was  making  strange  animal  noises  and marching about with a camera  for perfectly sane reasons , Your  Worship , Master  in  Lunacy.   Trickster  Dracula  had  seemingly  decamped. 

Suddenly, behind me  was  Dracula , causing me to  jump in fright, looking like a curled up Adder in attack mode .  He proceeded to  run all over the backyard, stop for  a  drink and wade in the Curlew  dish, causing  them to hiss ,  pecked  at  the  netting over  a  fruit  tree , fluttered up  onto the back fence , paused  for a  photo opportunity ,  then  flew  away.