.reflections and redirections
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shamykebab
- Member
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- Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2008 11:33 pm
- Dogs: A few eejits
- Location: Up North (but exiled down South)
Re: reflections and redirections
How did I miss this thread - what a brilliant read! Looking forward to the next installment .
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Alice
- Member
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- Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:45 pm
- Dogs: Spaniels
- Location: Sunny South Wilts
Re: reflections and redirections
thank you for continuing with this Wullie! Love the story of the dog who barked!
cheers,
Alice.
A spaniel is a vehicle for a nose
Alice.
A spaniel is a vehicle for a nose
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trekmoor
- Member
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- Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 9:38 am
- Dogs: Too many and not enough !
- Location: Central Scotland
Re: reflections and redirections
I was now, once more, dogless and during this short period something happened that I still have flashback images of. I had a friend I went fishing with regularly and went shooting with once or twice. He was a very tough man who had been a Royal Marine Commando (hope I got that right, I have never known much about the military.) He worked as the manager of a fishing tackle and gun shop in Edinburgh and I worked there too on a part time basis.
Late one afternoon a shop assistant who hadn't been seen or heard of for a few days turned up at the shop claiming he had been ill. I had never liked him much, he took too much interest in guns and for some instinct prompted reason I found that a bit suspicious. On top of that he had borrowed £3 from me and had never paid it back . That is very suspicious !
I was in the back room of the shop along with my friend and the shop owners young son when my debtor arrived. He wanted a private talk with my friend to "sort things out." I left the shop and so did the owners son. I happened to be on holiday at the time so I turned up to the shop at 9 a.m. the following day.
Through the shops window I could see one of the shop assistants behind the counter and he just didn't look his normal cheerful self . A man came out of the shop door at the same time as another man came up from behind me and bundled me into the shop . Both men then pushed my arms well up my back and one of them grabbed my hair ( I still had some then) to prevent me sticking the head on his mate which I was certainly trying to do.
I struggled not to be taken into the back of the shop where I could not be seen from the street for I believed that this was a gun grabbing raid by the I.R.A. . Those folk were attacking mainland Britain round about that time. I was just beginning to drag my heel hard down the shin of one of my assailants in order to strip the skin off it and ....hopefully make him release his hold, when the shop assistant called out to me ,"Bill ! It's O.K. ! It's the police ! It's the police !"
I chanced it and ceased to struggle , the two men , both in plain clothes, still did not show me a badge or a warrant so I wasn't happy but the grip on my hair was released and with my arms still pushed up my back I was taken into the back room and then at once completely released.
In front of me was a big desk and a large swivel armchair . My friend was slumped over one of the arms of the chair with his right arm trailing down to the floor where a pool of blood had formed at his finger tips. Some blood was on his arm too. It had come from a head wound which had partially popped out my friends eye.
I went forward to him at once saying his name as if I could wake him up but deep within me I already knew he was dead. I was grabbed again but this time much more gently by the two detectives and taken from there into another room . I think this was done to prevent me interfering with the crime scene. I had been a prime suspect for my friends murder but something in my behaviour when I had seen him told the detectives that I hadn't killed him.
I was told later that he had been hit from behind as he sat at the desk and knocked out. His killer had then got the keys to the gun-safe , opened it, taken out a gun, loaded it , went back into the back shop room and cold bloodedly shot my friend through the head. I am not sure but I think the exploding pressure of that wound had caused my friends eye to become partially detached.
I was filled with shock, sorrow and fury , I knew, I just knew, who had done this. From there things got confusing. The police went searching for the killer who had calmly left the shop after locking up then got a bus home where he had someone with a van go back to the shop with him . Once back at the shop the man with the van stayed outside while the killer, and it was the "iffy" shop assistant, had gone back into the shop to bring the guns out to the van for later resale.
I don't think the man with the van ever knew a killing had taken place inside the shop. It must have been a hell of shock to him when the police lifted him and he found that out !
The killer , so the story goes, had stolen the guns to sell to the U.D.A. but he'd been conned...... his gun buyer was actually an I.R.A. man ! I don't really know how true that was but all sorts of rumours were flying about. One of them was that the killer had told folk that I was also on his little hit-list.
I went home at once and packed my wife and kids off to her mothers with the instruction not to come back unless I phoned her. I stayed at home and left my door unlocked. I sat on a cushion in semi-darkness at the far end of the hallway from the door waiting for it to open with my target illuminated by the lighting behind him. I sat there on the cushion with a flask of coffee and a packet of biscuits and a loaded shotgun. I sat there for about 15 hours just waiting ..... !
I needn't have bothered , the police had caught him hours before ! He was found guilty in court and served quite a bit of time . He wouldn't have been the one serving time if he had entered that door. Maybe I'd have done him a favour, I don't know but he is still the only man I have ever known that I hated so much.
To this day I still see my friend in that chair , I could paint the scene from memory alone.
I think my friend being killed had a profound effect on me ....maybe nowadays I'd have been given counselling but as far as I am aware no such thing existed back then. I had seen what was inside me and I didn't like it .
........... Back to gundogs now thank goodness !............
My mate with the springer and the car ( a little white van) heard of a litter of springer pups not too far away from Edinburgh. I had been without a dog I could go beating with and rough shooting with for long enough so off we went one snowy winters night to buy one. The pedigree boasted of a field trial winner somewhere in it and back then that was enough for me .
We arrived at the little farm to find that the pups were all in a big old stone barn with no heating other than the straw in their very large indoor pen and sleeping box. there was about 10 of them, all liver and white and they all looked very healthy and they were all already sold ! The farmer asked me if I would consider a lab pup instead and since I was desperate to have a dog for the next shooting season I said yes I would.
I had never seen the pedigree but was assured the grandsire on the sires side was a field trial champion and there was also a few F.T.Champions "back a bit" in the dams pedigree . I still wanted a pup so the farmer asked me if I wanted a dog or a bitch. I said a bitch so he went into the pen where the spaniel pups and two small lab pups were playing about, grabbed up a black bundle and gave it to me. There had only been two pups in the lab bitch's litter and one was a dog and one was a bitch.
That was the problem of choosing the right pup solved in one fell swoop ! I asked what the pups were being fed on and he sort of laughed and said he didn't think I'd be able to feed in the same way. He showed me what he meant by that.
He unhitched a rope from a hook on one of the barns roof support pillars and began to let the rope out through his hands a little bit at a time. A pulley wheel away up high in the barns rafters began to creak and down from out of the darkness came half a cow split lengthwise !
It descended to about one foot from the floor of the pups pen and the spaniels and the lab pups got "tore in aboot it" to use a Scot's expression . They grabbed hold of the carcase and swung about worrying furiously at it as it swung back and forth under the feeding frenzy attack of the dozen pups. It was fascinating to watch but the farmer was correct, I could not feed a pup in that way .....my wife wouldn't like it !
I handed over the £30 asking price, most lab pups were about £50 -£60 at that time, was given a pedigree and said cheerio then set off for home with my new 6 weeks old pup into the teeth of a blizzard.
Next day all was white outside with at least 6 inches of snow. I took my pup out into the snow which she thought was great and threw a cold woodpigeon for her. She went straight to it and brought it straight back to hand through snow up to her chin. Never at any time did I ever have any problems getting her to retrieve any kind of dummy or any kind of animal or bird , live or dead. She came to me already trained that one !
I didn't know it then but she was to become, if not my best ever field trial lab then certainly my all time favourite lab .....she had a border collie's work ethic. She would do any kind of work asked of her just as long as she was allowed to work. I was never to see another lab like her. I called her "Tess" or "Tessa" according to my mood of the moment.
...........................................................................................
to be continued
Wullie
Late one afternoon a shop assistant who hadn't been seen or heard of for a few days turned up at the shop claiming he had been ill. I had never liked him much, he took too much interest in guns and for some instinct prompted reason I found that a bit suspicious. On top of that he had borrowed £3 from me and had never paid it back . That is very suspicious !
I was in the back room of the shop along with my friend and the shop owners young son when my debtor arrived. He wanted a private talk with my friend to "sort things out." I left the shop and so did the owners son. I happened to be on holiday at the time so I turned up to the shop at 9 a.m. the following day.
Through the shops window I could see one of the shop assistants behind the counter and he just didn't look his normal cheerful self . A man came out of the shop door at the same time as another man came up from behind me and bundled me into the shop . Both men then pushed my arms well up my back and one of them grabbed my hair ( I still had some then) to prevent me sticking the head on his mate which I was certainly trying to do.
I struggled not to be taken into the back of the shop where I could not be seen from the street for I believed that this was a gun grabbing raid by the I.R.A. . Those folk were attacking mainland Britain round about that time. I was just beginning to drag my heel hard down the shin of one of my assailants in order to strip the skin off it and ....hopefully make him release his hold, when the shop assistant called out to me ,"Bill ! It's O.K. ! It's the police ! It's the police !"
I chanced it and ceased to struggle , the two men , both in plain clothes, still did not show me a badge or a warrant so I wasn't happy but the grip on my hair was released and with my arms still pushed up my back I was taken into the back room and then at once completely released.
In front of me was a big desk and a large swivel armchair . My friend was slumped over one of the arms of the chair with his right arm trailing down to the floor where a pool of blood had formed at his finger tips. Some blood was on his arm too. It had come from a head wound which had partially popped out my friends eye.
I went forward to him at once saying his name as if I could wake him up but deep within me I already knew he was dead. I was grabbed again but this time much more gently by the two detectives and taken from there into another room . I think this was done to prevent me interfering with the crime scene. I had been a prime suspect for my friends murder but something in my behaviour when I had seen him told the detectives that I hadn't killed him.
I was told later that he had been hit from behind as he sat at the desk and knocked out. His killer had then got the keys to the gun-safe , opened it, taken out a gun, loaded it , went back into the back shop room and cold bloodedly shot my friend through the head. I am not sure but I think the exploding pressure of that wound had caused my friends eye to become partially detached.
I was filled with shock, sorrow and fury , I knew, I just knew, who had done this. From there things got confusing. The police went searching for the killer who had calmly left the shop after locking up then got a bus home where he had someone with a van go back to the shop with him . Once back at the shop the man with the van stayed outside while the killer, and it was the "iffy" shop assistant, had gone back into the shop to bring the guns out to the van for later resale.
I don't think the man with the van ever knew a killing had taken place inside the shop. It must have been a hell of shock to him when the police lifted him and he found that out !
The killer , so the story goes, had stolen the guns to sell to the U.D.A. but he'd been conned...... his gun buyer was actually an I.R.A. man ! I don't really know how true that was but all sorts of rumours were flying about. One of them was that the killer had told folk that I was also on his little hit-list.
I went home at once and packed my wife and kids off to her mothers with the instruction not to come back unless I phoned her. I stayed at home and left my door unlocked. I sat on a cushion in semi-darkness at the far end of the hallway from the door waiting for it to open with my target illuminated by the lighting behind him. I sat there on the cushion with a flask of coffee and a packet of biscuits and a loaded shotgun. I sat there for about 15 hours just waiting ..... !
I needn't have bothered , the police had caught him hours before ! He was found guilty in court and served quite a bit of time . He wouldn't have been the one serving time if he had entered that door. Maybe I'd have done him a favour, I don't know but he is still the only man I have ever known that I hated so much.
To this day I still see my friend in that chair , I could paint the scene from memory alone.
I think my friend being killed had a profound effect on me ....maybe nowadays I'd have been given counselling but as far as I am aware no such thing existed back then. I had seen what was inside me and I didn't like it .
........... Back to gundogs now thank goodness !............
My mate with the springer and the car ( a little white van) heard of a litter of springer pups not too far away from Edinburgh. I had been without a dog I could go beating with and rough shooting with for long enough so off we went one snowy winters night to buy one. The pedigree boasted of a field trial winner somewhere in it and back then that was enough for me .
We arrived at the little farm to find that the pups were all in a big old stone barn with no heating other than the straw in their very large indoor pen and sleeping box. there was about 10 of them, all liver and white and they all looked very healthy and they were all already sold ! The farmer asked me if I would consider a lab pup instead and since I was desperate to have a dog for the next shooting season I said yes I would.
I had never seen the pedigree but was assured the grandsire on the sires side was a field trial champion and there was also a few F.T.Champions "back a bit" in the dams pedigree . I still wanted a pup so the farmer asked me if I wanted a dog or a bitch. I said a bitch so he went into the pen where the spaniel pups and two small lab pups were playing about, grabbed up a black bundle and gave it to me. There had only been two pups in the lab bitch's litter and one was a dog and one was a bitch.
That was the problem of choosing the right pup solved in one fell swoop ! I asked what the pups were being fed on and he sort of laughed and said he didn't think I'd be able to feed in the same way. He showed me what he meant by that.
He unhitched a rope from a hook on one of the barns roof support pillars and began to let the rope out through his hands a little bit at a time. A pulley wheel away up high in the barns rafters began to creak and down from out of the darkness came half a cow split lengthwise !
It descended to about one foot from the floor of the pups pen and the spaniels and the lab pups got "tore in aboot it" to use a Scot's expression . They grabbed hold of the carcase and swung about worrying furiously at it as it swung back and forth under the feeding frenzy attack of the dozen pups. It was fascinating to watch but the farmer was correct, I could not feed a pup in that way .....my wife wouldn't like it !
I handed over the £30 asking price, most lab pups were about £50 -£60 at that time, was given a pedigree and said cheerio then set off for home with my new 6 weeks old pup into the teeth of a blizzard.
Next day all was white outside with at least 6 inches of snow. I took my pup out into the snow which she thought was great and threw a cold woodpigeon for her. She went straight to it and brought it straight back to hand through snow up to her chin. Never at any time did I ever have any problems getting her to retrieve any kind of dummy or any kind of animal or bird , live or dead. She came to me already trained that one !
I didn't know it then but she was to become, if not my best ever field trial lab then certainly my all time favourite lab .....she had a border collie's work ethic. She would do any kind of work asked of her just as long as she was allowed to work. I was never to see another lab like her. I called her "Tess" or "Tessa" according to my mood of the moment.
...........................................................................................
to be continued
Wullie
If at first you don't succeed .....find out if there is a booby prize !
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Don't do what doesn't work - do what does.
.
-----------------------------------------------------
Don't do what doesn't work - do what does.
.
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shropshirelad
- Member
- Posts: 209
- Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2012 3:23 pm
- Dogs: Just the One..for now
Re: reflections and redirections
Blimey Wullie..... I wonder who could play you in a Hollywood movie..... Sean Connery 
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trekmoor
- Member
- Posts: 16074
- Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 9:38 am
- Dogs: Too many and not enough !
- Location: Central Scotland
Re: reflections and redirections
Naah ! Not him. I'm better looking and twice as sexy !shropshirelad wrote:Blimey Wullie..... I wonder who could play you in a Hollywood movie..... Sean Connery
Wullie
If at first you don't succeed .....find out if there is a booby prize !
-----------------------------------------------------
Don't do what doesn't work - do what does.
.
-----------------------------------------------------
Don't do what doesn't work - do what does.
.
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Stacia
- Member
- Posts: 4671
- Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:05 pm
- Dogs: Drift and Rourke
- Location: West Worcestershire
Re: reflections and redirections
Gosh Wullie, what a read! Not that you are sexier than Sean Connery,( 
) but the murder which must have been horrific for you
) but the murder which must have been horrific for you
Re: reflections and redirections
Looking forward to the rest
cracking post
long may it continue
cracking post
long may it continue
Re: reflections and redirections
trekmoor wrote:
Naah ! Not him. I'm better looking and twice as sexy !
Wullie
I rest my case my lord......
Rascal
General Dogsbody
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trekmoor
- Member
- Posts: 16074
- Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 9:38 am
- Dogs: Too many and not enough !
- Location: Central Scotland
Re: reflections and redirections
I forgot to mention that I have great "dress" sense too ! What was the original head on the model like Wendy ? Did he have my rugged manly looks or was he a bit "iffy ?"
Wullie
If at first you don't succeed .....find out if there is a booby prize !
-----------------------------------------------------
Don't do what doesn't work - do what does.
.
-----------------------------------------------------
Don't do what doesn't work - do what does.
.
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Strathcraig
- Member
- Posts: 1101
- Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2012 11:14 pm
- Dogs: Kenzie, Kai, Harry & Chana
Re: reflections and redirections
That is impeccable photoshop...
Craig M
Owned & Handled by "Ladykenz Labradors"
Owned & Handled by "Ladykenz Labradors"