A Sheepdog Rants…(part one)

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Hi, I’m a sheepdog and my human calls me Rover
(that’s me in the picture by the way, looking rather handsome even though I say it myself)

Unfortunately there are a few grammatical errors in that statement (the sheepdog and Rover bit, not the handsome picture part).
We Collies absolutely hate being called sheepdogs, in fact we hate anything that is remotely connected with sheep. We cannot stand the animal. Do you like everyone that you work with? Bet you don’t? I bet there are many hundreds of staff that sit at their desks all day, unloved and ignored as sure as if they turned up for work having forgotten the deodorant. Well, that’s what it’s like for us, we like the shepherd and even his wife and children but draw the line at the sheep, we’d like to ignore them completely but unfortunately they are our work so we are forced to tolerate them.
They are the most stupid animals on earth, not a degree, ‘A’ level or even NVQ amongst them. Ah! I hear you say, “Neither have you?” I’m afraid that is where you are wrong! I’ve got a First-class Diploma, no less (that shocked you didn’t it?), from the Collie College on the Isle of Dogs. It took many hours of study and constant exams to pass, it wasn’t just a walk in the park you know.
We have a special name for sheep – we call them ‘Brendas’. If you go into a field full of them what do you hear them saying? Very good! That’s nearly right – ‘Baa-aa’. What in fact you are hearing is them using their one-word-vocabulary ‘Bren-daaa’, this is their word for food, rain, sky, humans, dog, err – that’s about it I think.
They are also only good for one thing and that’s being tasty. Look at a can of dog food, what does it contain – lamb. Look at a bag of sheep food, does it contain tender-terrier or crusty-corgi? I don’t think so.
So cut out the sheepdog bit, call us Collies and we’ll get along just fine.
Anyway that’s enough about sheep, we’ll return to them at another time, onto the name I was given – Rover.
I like my Land Rover, I’d prefer a Range Rover but we can’t always have what we want, can we?
To call me Rover is just plain insulting. I mean do you know a Skoda Sam , Lada Linda or Fiat Frankie? I think not.
It would of course be different if I’d been called Porsche, Lamborghini or Ferrari: one who is sleek, attracts admiring glances, corners well and of course with film-star looks. But honestly – Rover – Old man with pork-pie hat who wears a suit every day, farts into the velour seats and smokes a pipe – Yuk!

I’ll try again.
Hi, I’m a Collie and the Shepherd calls me Vlad the Sheep-Impaler!

To be continued…
© Baldock Bard 2012
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The Apple and the Gooseberry

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The path of love seldom runs smoothly. This is particularly true amongst fruit. Lemons and Oranges, despite being part of the same Citrus family can never be put on the same table at weddings. Other fruits are more tolerant of each other’s differences…

The apple and the gooseberry
Went on a date
The date was un-amused
The apple turned up late!

The gooseberry asked the apple
“Can I take you out?”
They enjoyed each others company
And love began to sprout!

The gooseberry was all hairy
The apple turned quite red
Wasn’t long before
They went to the asparagus bed!

Soon they would not separate
Together everywhere
And all their fruity friends
Knew they were a pair!

They tied the knot in Waitrose
Just outside Carlisle
An Orange gave the bride a walk
Down the fresh-fruit aisle!

The path of love was rocky
Can happen as a rule
The apple became a tart
While the gooseberry was a fool!

© Baldock Bard 2012
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Wide Load!

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Mrs Bard was driving me up the M6 yesterday when we passed a lorry with its load covered by a multi-coloured tarpaulin. My mind began to wander as I contemplated the sight in front of us…

“If you’re heading North West on the M6 motorway,
The world’s largest market-bag is going your way!
That concludes this hours extensive travel report,
From Midlands FM at Elsmere Port!”

I suddenly thought: “That’s where we are!
Imagine taking it shopping, would it fit in the car?”
Thirty feet long by eight plus feet wide,
How many tins of beans could you fit inside?
How many fishes, and freshly baked bread?
Or slices of ham for your lunch instead!

“You are just crazy,” Mrs Bard started to gloat,
It’s just a tarpaulin covering a boat!

© Baldock Bard 2012
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Fools Gold!

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I am a marketing department’s dream, I fall for the sales pitch every time. This week I bought some oddly-packaged biscuits. Despite Mr Sensible on my left shoulder shouting louder than Mr Go-for-It on my right, I abandoned caution and now question my judgement…

I’ve just bought a biscuit tin,
Not designed for keeping biscuits in.
It’s hard to tell from the shape,
What’s inside, can’t be cake.
‘Limited Edition’ is their refrain,
Sold by the million, pure financial gain.
A valuable heirloom it won’t be,
Just more junk bought by me!

© Baldock Bard 2012

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Au Secours! (A French Warning!)

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Le Bard en France, day 2! I have to admit a terrible weakness: I cannot resist patisseries. So if you ever find yourself in St Pol in Northern France, test your will power at the GOURMAND”IN on the Market Square, you have been warned…

My diets taken a battering in the wake,
Of wonderful food and chocolate cake.
In France they posses secret weapons,
Even more dangerous than Mrs Bard threatens!
Patisserie shops they are called,
One look in the window and you’ve been pulled!
I stood outside, my mouth agape,
Couldn’t move, there was no escape.
Just one cake I managed to sneak,
My diet starts again next week!
© Baldock Bard 2012
The Baldock Car Boot Sale’s 20th anniversary season continues next and every Saturday!

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The Vegetarian!

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A man I have known for a long time surprised me the other day. I always meet him at the burger van and discovered his dirty little secret. I have changed his name to protect him from his wife …

Reggie is a veggie,
No meat in his diet,
(apart from bacon sandwiches)
About which he keeps quiet!

© Baldock Bard 2012

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Edible Nirvana!

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Yesterday afternoon I wandered through from the office on the search for food! Mrs Bard will go nuts, because after a thorough search and having discounted any form of non-instant gratification, my eyes settled on some edible nirvana…

I was quite hungry,
Hadn’t eaten lunch,
Breakfast had long since gone,
Needed a quick munch!

I went to the fridge,
There was nothing there,
I went to the freezer,
It was awful bare.

I went to the larder,
Hoping for a find,
Success! A plate of wedding cake,
Had been left behind!

Now you either like the icing,
Or you like the cake,
But I just love marzipan,
My day it can always make!

So I sat down at the table,
Eager but restrained,
Ten minutes later,
Not a crumb remained!

© Baldock Bard 2012
The Baldock Car Boot Sale’s 20th anniversary season continues next Saturday!

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Steak and Chefs!

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Have you ever been disappointed by a meal out? Much against her better judgement, Mrs Bard allowed me to take her out for a meal the other night. Once again storms were in the area…

Went out for a meal the other day,
Was faced with a massive bill to pay,
The plates were hot,
The food stone cold,
The steak from a cow,
A hundred years old!

I complained to the waiter,
He didn’t care,
“Go tell the kitchen if you dare.”
I told the chef and he went pale,
“The food’s much better at the car boot sale!”

© Baldock Bard 2012
The Baldock Car Boot Sale’s 20th anniversary season continues every Saturday!

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Diet – Day One (Postponed!)

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Sometimes in life you have the good fortune to experience something so outstanding that it is beyond description. Yesterday Mrs Bard and I were taken out for lunch to a restaurant in a small village near Oxford. I have never eaten food prepared by such a famous world-class chef before, however if you ever get the chance to eat at Raymond Blanc’s Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, just go! It should be on a list of those hundred things to do before you die…

Day one of my diet was yesterday,
Not a good start I have to say.
Went out for lunch with some friends,
Had small portions to make amends!
I must confess before I’m caught,
My trousers still feel mighty taut.
My one great downfall is good food,
To not finish a plate would be rude.
The courses kept coming it was gourmets-heaven,
(Canapés and petites-fours made it seven!).
The staff were attentive but not in your face,
Without doubt they were proud of their place.
Words can’t do justice to such a good day
My visit to Le Manoir means I diet today!

© Baldock Bard
The Baldock Car Boot Sale’s 20th anniversary season continues next Saturday!

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Not in my Size!

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Yesterday I was taken shopping by Mrs Bard to a large and well-known clothes store in a retail park. The assistant, while being incredibly polite, was obviously having great difficulty finding clothes that would fit my expanded frame. This came as quite a shock as up to now it has always been easy to find clothes. I have now to admit that age has taken its toll and that where once I could eat all I liked without weight gain, times have changed…

My wife took me shopping,
I had nothing smart to wear,
My wardrobe was so Eighties,
Except for underwear.

On entering the store,
I couldn’t believe my eyes,
So many different choices,
Not much was in my size.

I took a pile of clothing,
Into a cubicle to try,
Who ever was that fat man who,
From the mirror caught my eye?

I seemed to have grown two sizes,
In the waist and around the neck,
The assistant suggested larger,
I had turned into a wreck.

My younger body had run out,
Was nowhere in that store,
It was quite a shock to know,
I’m not thirty anymore.

So I went into a bookshop
A diet book to ease my sorrow
A bag of crisps by page two
The diet starts tomorrow!

© Baldock Bard
The Baldock Car Boot Sale’s 20th anniversary season continues next Saturday!

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BootLine: 07852 707 074

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