Here is a 4-minute unedited video of the goats and my daughter* that my mother took in the summer of 2008. Theoretically I ought to be able to make videos myself now, and edit them so that there’s a plot and narration and the other things we expect from a film. In the meantime, please remember this was not shot with the general public in mind. But even if the goats aren’t very animated, it does at least show that they are more than stuffed toys. I’m surprised they’re wearing collars, I thought we’d given that up years ago. We must have been taking them up to the reservoir at the top of the hill to erode the council’s undergrowth. And now…
* (and that’s me & Topsy walking past, like Alfred Hitchcock)
A Bad Guide 
More exciting than some of the World Cup matches.
Towards the end you seemed to be playing in the 3-1-2 formation.
Haha. Yes, our secret weapon.
ohhhh a video, a video! While I wait for it loads, I express my emotion :-D
There is always something new to learn. The V in Vesla sounds more like a W!
I LOVE IT!
THANK YOU!
ah, it wasn’t just me, empty!
At first I thought that that pronunciation was clear to you all. And I was the only one that didn’t know it…
Thank you too, Julia and Ø, for spurring me on.
We say “Veshla”, not “Vessla. It means Tiny in Norwegian. My daughter is bilingual, but Norwegians often mix Vs & Ws, even when they’re speaking English, and a Norwegian might just as easily pronounce it “Veshla” as “Weshla” next time. I usually call her Veshie, it’s less formal.
Which reminds me, I went to college with a girl called Kirsten who insisted it was pronounced ‘Shirsten’ because it was ‘Norwegian’. Can that be true?
That was excellent. The goat’s buttocks, to coin a phrase.
A sequel to Sexe, mensonges et vidéo? (Nothing to make anyboby horny though, and I’m quite disappointed there is no head-butting to be watched.)
Goats have very meagre buttocks under all the wool. There’s a grain of truth: The K in Kirsten, like Kirsten Flagstad, would be hissed rather than shshed, almost like the ch in German ich. But any Norwegian who was introducing herself in English would anglicice it. Unlike English speakers, Norwegians believe in translating names where possible: a Petter would call himself Peter in English, etc.
I’ll try to include butting next time, Sig. That should be easy. I’d like to get some dancing down the hill too, but they only do it when they’re very excited and happy.
Try not to get hurt in the process of shooting.
You have to be brave if you make animal documentaries.
Even plant photography takes nerves of steel.
Brave and patient, remember that, AJP.
Nice pictures, Principal! But we’re talking about videos, here. When you manage to show us your nerves of steel by making a video of your plants, we’ll see… ;-)
Baby steps, Julia, as you say…
But Julia, 80 baht… that must be, hmm, let’s see, something like 10.6041933 Argentine pesos? — not bad for that fantastic pink banana (banana?). And 60 baht for the ginger! Principal, Siganus Sutor is from Mauritius, he went to Bangkok once with his job, I remember (he’s a structural engineer), he has the blog called Mauricianismes in my blogroll.
Oh. And some rather more impressive plant photography…
No, your plants are fantastic. As is your entire blog.
Yes, Principal, we’ll be patient with you too …
For me the more impressives are the pictures of your beautiful cats (It’s kind of a secret, but I can tell you I love cats).
AJP, your ability for mental calculations is also impressive. The accurate of all these decimals !
I’m very good with numbers.
I’ll work on the cats, but they don’t have that dainty bustle that makes goats so attractive.
You haven’t met my cat, Principal: may be she’s not as good as I wish, but she’s never boring.
Speaking of cats, I wanted to ask this since some time ago: Why there isn’t a cat at Crown’s manor?
Allergies. We’re allergic to cats, all of us. We’re allergic to most fur, hence the goats and birds and Topsy the dog, who’s a hypoallergenic Irish Wheaten terrier.
Our local petshop owner retired recently, having developed an allergy to the birds he stocked. Such a pity – his service was excellent and his conversation always interesting.
You could always tweet him, dearie.
What, and download the cat food? I’ll give it a try.
Allergies! What a pity! It’s so sad living without cats, but I can see you managed very well.
Allergies are horrible. At least no hay fever I hope.
Chhhhrrriersten —Gesundheit— vindicated after all these years: the moment you said it a memory floated up of her sitting on my bed in a tower block in Kentish Town (not what you think, I had very little furniture) and hissing at me in much the way you describe. I must have been more tactless than I thought and asked what’s all this then.
Well, was she actually Norwegian?
Julia, I grew up with cats, I got the allergies afterwards. I do like them (the cats). Our neighbours have two cats, but we don’t see them very often because of Alex’s barking (the minute Yorkshire terrier we adopted). Yes, we have hay fever, but now it’s snowing and I don’t care.
Tremendous, Artur, well worth the anticipation.
The mother is a great director (?) and cinematographer.
The goats and the daughters are natural-born stars.
(Don’t ever let on to the goats that the nickname of the UCLA sporting teams is…Bruins.)
The goats are remarkably well-behaved, considering that they are stars.
The trees are obviously learning that it would be wiser to grow higher branches.
Toppers would outdo Alfred Hitchcock any day of the week, when it comes to barging into the picture.
First, Toppers is much more photogenic. And second, Hitch would never have thought of the clever scene-stealing ploy of chewing on his leash.
(Sorry, that should have been a singular “daughter”, not “daughters”. The old eyes are going… but not THAT fast.)
I have a sense that the father may have been.
Tom, thank you. Most of the trees in the video were cut down last year. It’s funny for me to see them again.
I don’t know why the goats ought to worry about the UCLA sports dept., they have enough on their plate as it is.
The father may have been and he may not, we do not know.
I never doubted you love cats.
I still remember baby Muntz’s pictures as one of the first things that made me want to follow this blog .
What a story, Tom! Sleeping with rats… I don’t think that would make my day (or night)
Oh, good. We haven’t had any pictures of Muntz for some time. I’m quite sure he’s okay, though.