Diversion

Today

On Tuesday, anxious not to be named and shamed as a late arriver at choir, I set off in plenty of time. Best laid plans, alas! As I approached Havyatt on the Glastonbury road I saw the blue lights ahead. Cars were turning back. What to do? I turned left, taking the turning to Baltonsborough. The lanes were dark and narrow and I lost all sense of direction. Other cars had also gone this way but they all seemed to know where they were going. I didn't know whether I'd end up back in Pilton or in a ploughed field. Eventually, I saw a sign marked Glastonbury and found my way, across the marshes road, to the rehearsal. I was about ten minutes late and slunk into my seat.

In My Day

I remember a similar occasion about fifteen years ago. I set off for choir. This time the road closure was at Steanbow, just west of Pilton. "Easy!" I thought "I can pick up the Wells Road via North Wootton".

I turned right and soon was lost in a maze of dark and tiny lanes. The banks pressed in closer and closer. There was no other traffic and I had no idea where I was. There were no road signs; I suspected that I was going in circles.

I turned another dark corner and suddenly there in front of me was a new born calf. It was lying in the road and didn't get onto its feet as I approached. It was clearly alive, but only just. I sat there for a while. There were no signs of habitation nearby. The road was so narrow that I doubted my ability to turn round in the space.

At last I got nervously out of the car. How hurt was the creature? Suppose I couldn't shift it. Suppose a car came fast round the corner and hit me and the calf! Suppose there was its mother close by, all ready to biff me if I touched her baby. It was such a dark night; I could barely make anything out. Gently I pushed the calf into hedgerow.  It let me move it and made no attempt to escape.

Gingerly I squeezed past it. The next house I saw was all in darkness. I had no mobile signal. At last I reached the Wells Road. I stopped when I had a signal and called the police, although I'm not sure how explicit I was able to be about the position of the calf.

I got to choir half an hour late and was roundly told off by the music director, who didn't appear to believe my story.