Geese and Goslings
I've always liked geese. Many years ago I was involved in a pantomime - The Magic Goose - about the old story of The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs.
The goose was made by an expert props-maker and it functioned rather like Rod Hull's Emu. The actor's right arm went into the goose's neck and head, and he had a fake right arm that went right round the goose so it looked as though he was holding it.
(Apologies to those of you who thought that Rod Hull's Emu was real. It isn't, and neither is that big green chick thing - Orville, that's what it's called. Father Christmas is real, though, so don't worry.)
The actor, Eddy Clayton, who was the owner of the goose in the play, became highly skilled at manipulating the goose. So he'd be talking to one character on stage, with all his attention apparently focused on them, and the goose would take on a life of its own - it would be trying to peck the set, or one of the other characters, or grabbing the clothes of one of the audience.
It was a huge success and I'm sure that many of the children believed it was real - some of the adults probably did, too.
In real life geese are a Good Thing too - full of character.
York University campus is full of geese at the moment, mostly with goslings: the campus is full of lakes and streams and waterfowl of all kinds. The goslings start out little, round and fluffy like the one in the middle of this photo:
Then they get a bit teenage-looking with big feet and long legs. Here are some that were eating chips, which some students were helpfully throwing to them. I expect, on a university campus, that goslings eat a lot of chips.
The only downside to this is that all these ducks and geese seem to produce a lot of Duck Poo and Goose Poo. I think that all the students' memories of Academe will be tinged with the squelchy feeling of having stepped in something.
The goose was made by an expert props-maker and it functioned rather like Rod Hull's Emu. The actor's right arm went into the goose's neck and head, and he had a fake right arm that went right round the goose so it looked as though he was holding it.
(Apologies to those of you who thought that Rod Hull's Emu was real. It isn't, and neither is that big green chick thing - Orville, that's what it's called. Father Christmas is real, though, so don't worry.)
The actor, Eddy Clayton, who was the owner of the goose in the play, became highly skilled at manipulating the goose. So he'd be talking to one character on stage, with all his attention apparently focused on them, and the goose would take on a life of its own - it would be trying to peck the set, or one of the other characters, or grabbing the clothes of one of the audience.
It was a huge success and I'm sure that many of the children believed it was real - some of the adults probably did, too.
In real life geese are a Good Thing too - full of character.
York University campus is full of geese at the moment, mostly with goslings: the campus is full of lakes and streams and waterfowl of all kinds. The goslings start out little, round and fluffy like the one in the middle of this photo:
Then they get a bit teenage-looking with big feet and long legs. Here are some that were eating chips, which some students were helpfully throwing to them. I expect, on a university campus, that goslings eat a lot of chips.
The only downside to this is that all these ducks and geese seem to produce a lot of Duck Poo and Goose Poo. I think that all the students' memories of Academe will be tinged with the squelchy feeling of having stepped in something.
posted by Daphne at 6:37 pm
3 Comments:
Just guard your cheese spread sandwiches! (ask Jo or Gareth)
Goose poo is big. Big and slippery.
The goslings are adorable, all small, cute and fluffy. Much like kittens, I wish they could stay that size. Although, if they did, we'd not have pate de fois gras and that would be sad indeed.
When geese move in a gaggle or even in a skein across the sky, they seem to be telepathically tuned into each other like fish in a shoal - as if moving with one mind.
And another thing, why do we talk about "goosing" other people? Such an odd expression.
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