{"id":7882,"date":"2019-05-06T12:00:52","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T11:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/?p=7882"},"modified":"2022-03-02T12:22:15","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T12:22:15","slug":"horsey-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/?p=7882","title":{"rendered":"High Weald Drifters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I frequently launch my bike into the wee small hours, savouring the peace and quiet and moonlight when celestial bodies are feeling generous. Just the road and me for an hour or two. 20 miles, give or take: nothing epic, unless you count thoughts drifting out forever into space.<\/p>\n<p>Early this morning, later than usual so with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.notanothercyclingforum.net\/index.php?topic=438.msg10903#msg10903\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dawn\u2019s early light<\/a> in full glory, I bumped into a pair of horses contentedly having breakfast just off the high street of a nearby market town.\u00a0 I passed on by, thinking it odd, but unsure what to do about it, when it struck me that this was an accident waiting to happen. Though traffic was still sparse, some drivers take advantage of the usual lack of obstacles to put the pedal to the metal.<\/p>\n<p>Whom to call? <a class=\"bbc_link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbcamerica.com\/anglophenia\/2014\/11\/999-vs-911-brits-americans-get-emergency-numbers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">999<\/a> came immediately to mind, but did this qualify as an emergency?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/littleoldme.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7878\" src=\"http:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/littleoldme.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"747\" height=\"393\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Either in search of greener pastures or wishing to escape from the guy with the phone camera, they headed down the street, weaving in and out of front yards.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/shetlands.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7879\" src=\"http:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/shetlands.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"747\" height=\"429\" srcset=\"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/shetlands.jpg 747w, https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/shetlands-300x172.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 747px) 100vw, 747px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<em><a class=\"bbc_link\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jollygoodthen\/status\/1125124752648089601\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Not all of us know what we are<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>As I was pondering which authority to summon, a motorist passed by and rolled down his window. We had a brief discussion about whom to contact, agreeing it didn\u2019t seem cut and dried. After he left I rang the number for the local police, which needless to say at that hour offered voice menus offering nothing useful.<\/p>\n<p>At this point a guy walked by with his dog, or vice-versa, and sensing my dilemma (staring at him helped), also suggested emergency services. I decided screw it, 999 it was.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/A-Team.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7884\" src=\"http:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/A-Team.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"470\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/A-Team.jpg 470w, https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/A-Team-300x253.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 470px) 100vw, 470px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The police operator took down the relevant information, including the colour of the escaped ungulates, which I had to think about as they\u2019d disappeared from view and apparently I have the memory of a horsefly, which for the purposes of this post we\u2019ll agree is quite short.<\/p>\n<p>Black wasn\u2019t so hard to remember. The other was brown and white, I seemed to finally recall and told him, thinking there must be another name for that. (<a class=\"bbc_link\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Equine_coat_color#Pinto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pinto<\/a>, it turns out.) He thanked me and told me I had done the right thing by getting in touch. Job done, I headed home, pleased to have overcome my initial shrugging off of responsibility and happy at the break in routine.<\/p>\n<p>I live about a mile outside Burwash, best known for its VIP <a class=\"bbc_link\" href=\"http:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/library\/kipling.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rudyard Kipling<\/a>. The village looks like this:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/oldBurwash.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7881\" src=\"http:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/oldBurwash.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"376\" srcset=\"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/oldBurwash.jpg 600w, https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/oldBurwash-300x188.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>or so I imagine it did in his time. Surely everything was still black and white then. A few days ago I\u2019d led a band of cyclists down this very street, halfway through a ride from <a class=\"bbc_link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.notanothercyclingforum.net\/index.php?topic=964.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hastings to the sea<\/a>. This fine morning, parked in front of the village shop was evidence that we definitely live in a less genteel age:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WTFcar.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7880\" src=\"http:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WTFcar.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WTFcar.jpg 500w, https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/WTFcar-300x194.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<em>Mind reading number plate<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I frequently launch my bike into the wee small hours, savouring the peace and quiet and moonlight when celestial bodies are feeling generous. Just the road and me for an hour or two. 20 miles, give or take: nothing epic, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/?p=7882\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7882"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7882"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11637,"href":"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7882\/revisions\/11637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prettygoodbritain.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}