What a weekend.
I’ve been panicking over the past few weeks about my half marathon, which I half-arsedly agreed to and failed to train for completing roughly 4 runs in the run up (the longest of which was 12km; a half marathon is over 21km!)
Anyway, by some wondrous magical miracle I managed to complete the half AND in a reasonable time. I secretly hoped that I’d somehow find a previously unknown half marathon skill and fly round in 2:30 or less, but I did not. Despite not having secret ninja running skills I still managed it in 2:37 (official time): 2:34 if you discount the 3 minutes I spent on the loo.
(Turns out half marathons make me poop, who knew?)
Anyway, home from the half and gently recovering I let the guinea pigs out for their regular grass-grazing session on Sunday afternoon and got on with the washing. A little bit later I went to call them in (shout “piggies” and jiggle the food bag and they come running, wheek-wheeking at the top of their tiny voices) and only one guinea pig appeared. Piggies, piggies: shouting to no avail. I went out with my torch and found poor little Spot —
— had managed to squeeze his head through the run panels which surround the animal shed (currently housing 3 recent piggie adoptions, more on them another day). I’ve been using these run panels for years and never had any issues so it was a bit of a shock to say the least! Unfortunately they’re designed for use in dog kennels etc (so ideal for keeping unwanted foxes, cats etc out) and therefore not easily pliable.
Anyway, attempts to get his head back out weren’t working and he was getting more distressed. I tried to use some sharp garden shears which were the best thing I could find and they didn’t do much (except wreck the shears no doubt) so I called the fire & rescue folks for some advice. They asked some questions and then said they’d send someone out. Turns out they meant the whole kit and caboodle, and the next thing I knew there was a fire engine outside complete with crew and a bloody big pair of boltcutters.
After a bit of wiggling and jiggling to get the bolt cutters around the metal without pinching piggie parts, the firefighters managed to cut a section free which meant we could maneouvre poor Spot out safely. He’s got a small tear on his ear which I cleaned up but was eating and drinking fine when I popped him back in his hutch safely last night. He’s back on the grass (now that I’ve fixed up and reinforced the run panels!)
It was all a bit of a drama but over and done with fairly quickly, and after a stiff drink I went to bed and thought nothing of it: until this morning when, despite telling the local paper I wasn’t interested in expanding on such a non-story, they published a bunch of assumptions firing the tempers of locals who thought that they knew enough to judge the situation both on the 61-word “story” and the accompanying tweet:
@ShropshireStar These people should be ashamed – what a stupid waste of time and money, and a risk to people in danger
— Better Stay than Away #FBPE (@TrumptonLibDems) November 9, 2015
@ShropshireStar They should be bloody ashamed to call out the Fire Service for that! At most they should be charged a fee for the service!
— 🅰 🅽 🅳 🆈 (@SalopResearcher) November 9, 2015
But hey, why let the actual facts of the matter come between a good rant, eh?
Spot’s none the worse for his adventure, and I can’t thank the Fire (& Rescue!) Service enough for fitting me in during what I recognise as a busy time of year.
09 Nov at 5:25 pm
I believe I now owe you two Bakewell Tarts if we’re ever in the same place at the same time.
09 Nov at 6:13 pm
That twitter drama is hilarious. Glad you were able to get Spot freed with minimal damage!
10 Nov at 1:57 pm
I hope the little one is fine now. It’ amazing how many people can comment without knowing all the facts.
10 Nov at 1:58 pm
Bloody well done on the half marathon! (and don’t worry, once you run more of them you figure out what to eat and when in the days before so you don’t have to take a loo stop :)
And your poor guinea pig (famous and all :) – I’m glad all’s well.
14 Nov at 9:26 am
Holy crap, it’s unbelievable how much energy some people waste on things they know nothing about! I’m glad Spot is OK though!
17 Nov at 9:02 am
Well done on the half marathon, that’s not bad at all! I also discount time spent on loos – well I did in the London Marathon anyway!
Poor Spot, glad he’s recovering. What a drama!