Night Time Hoo-ha

 Last night, at around 1.30 a.m, Nell the Poo went BERSERK with barking. She doesn’t usually bark at night unless something is going on outside and, given we live surrounded by fields, there’s not a lot going on to stir her up because nights are usually peaceful and quiet. So, downstairs I went to see if we had burglars, and I found Nell standing in the living room window going frantic at something outside. 

I peeped through the curtains and saw…

…three ponies ambling down the road, stopping occasionally to have a look around, before ambling onwards again. Further back up the road I could see the headlights of a vehicle following them. 

These aren’t the actual ponies because they were walking in a neat line down the centre of the road and it was very dark. But they were similar to these ponies, just so you get a rough idea. 

My immediate thought was that the ponies looked like traveller ponies, and that the following vehicle was herding them down the road in order to abandon them in a field. Yes, I know - call me Mrs Judgemental, but it’s what I thought in my sleep-deprived, woken suddenly by barking, state.

Upstairs I went, putting on the bedroom light and opening the window wide. I leaned out of the window, and watched the progress of the ponies and the headlights of the pursuing vehicle. I wanted the inhabitants of that vehicle to know that they had been spotted and were being watched. I would do the same if I thought something like hare coursing was going on around us. It’s the sort of thing that enrages me. 

The ponies continued their nighttime amble and eventually turned into the field next to our cottage. It’s a huge field, with trees and hedges and lots of grass, but it has no gate to its entrance. The following vehicle, which I couldn’t see properly because of the hedgerow, turned, waited, and then began to move slowly back towards the cottage, where I was still leaning from the upstairs window, like a cross between Miss Havisham and Juliet Capulet. The car slowed when it reached our driveway and stopped. It was a police car. 

Thank goodness, thought I. I shan’t need my Hat of Confrontation, nor my Girdle of Iron. 

A nice lady police officer emerged from the passenger seat. Did I know of any places around which kept ponies? No, said I, because I didn’t. It’s all cows and sheep around here. She asked after the nearest farm and I directed her to Copes dairy farm just up the road. She said she hoped the ponies would stay in the field whilst she went to find assistance, then thanked me, and off she and her colleague went. 

Of course, I lay awake fretting about the ponies wandering back out into the road. Should I keep watch and be prepared to leap into pony-wrangling mode if the need arose? Around 2.30 a.m Nell started barking again and there were more lights and some sort of activity malarkey, but I couldn’t really see what was happening. I didn’t really sleep properly after that but was relieved when I daylight appeared that there was no sign of pony in the vicinity. I am assuming they have been rescued. 

Later, I took Nell for her walk, then came home and got changed before going for my barista training. I couldn’t test anything because I don’t like coffee, but there was some nice shortbread on offer. 

And now it is gone three in the afternoon and I’m trying to tell myself to have a nap because Celebrity Traitors AND Taskmaster are on TV this evening and I don’t want to fall asleep during either of them. Nell is spark out on the sofa…🙄