Quiet walk by the river with some goats.

I always looked forwards to late afternoon and tried to finish all my tasks in the garden so I could get ready for my walk. Everything looked more or less the same, in rainy season everything would look greener and very rush with weeds and wild grasses. Luckily my immediate neighbours didn’t have any place to build new houses so the wooded areas were left wild and dense with trees. These have become homes to many birds, lizards and snakes.

The prospect of rain had kept people away from jogging and cycling by the river. So, I often had the whole place to myself. It was such a privilege to walk alone quietly among natural vibes from the surroundings. To my surprise, a big brown animal was running full speed towards me with several others following behind this big strong animal with two awesome horns. Only when he came much closer that I realised he’s a very big male goat who was the leader of the goats’ herd. He seemed to be the only one with a string around his neck.

It seemed this leader goat was running away from his owner who tied him down the whole day. So he was celebrating his freedom by running away with all his wives and children. These goats enjoyed their freedom to roam around looking for nice juicy grasses and plants for their dinner. The brown goat actually jumped up and down in excitement. I didn’t know that goat could jump very high like that. Their legs seemed very strong and powerful. So, it’s better not to be kicked by this goat. I could imagine he could kick a person like a football high up in the air! I stood still while letting all the goats running around in celebration of their freedom.

There were few people cycling along the riverfront. These weren’t the regular villagers whom I used to see by the river. More town people with fancied and expensive bicycles have started to cycle along the riverfront. The new connecting bike lane to town had made it much easier for them to explore the river area on bicycles. I heard that there was a new project to build a connecting road to run along the river front for over twenty kilometers. But with the plandemics, many construction projects had to hang on in limbo for a while.

It was fun trying to get closer to these smaller goats. They looked less intimidating and calmer than those big ones. I met a drunken man who could hardly walk straight; he asked me where the goats had gone from the road. I told him I saw the big leader goat went into my neighbours’ new garden with all his concubines. It seemed he had indulged in too much moonshine in the afternoon. He walked like a drunken snake for five minutes and couldn’t stand straight any longer. He just fell down on the ground and sat there, being too drunk to get up.

Within five minutes, his wive came along on a motor bike. She gave him a hard stare so I told her to hurry along to get those goats out of the rich neighbours’ new garden. It took her some time to round the goat and get them back to their pen by the fishermen’s village. The following day the drunken man had become sober and told me that he got a stern complaint from my neighbours. I also found these goats made their way into my land and enjoyed nibbling at the coconut trees and young banana leaves. Fortunately I pretended to be a giant with loud laughing voice; the goats got so frightened by this kind of sound and ran away. I later used the same laughing sound of a giant to frighten two stray dogs away from the lawn.

This simple surrounding did give me some exciting moments from time to time. The best one would be the big cobra the children found several years ago. Unfortunately I couldn’t help saving that big cobra; villagers had the instinct to kill all big poisonous snakes. Nowadays, we only found smaller snakes by chance. All the big snakes must have migrated to safer grounds. My quiet walk was interrupted by runaway goats and a drunken villager. They made me realise that there was still some hope to maintain simple way of living.

People around here were very modest and could live with nature very comfortably. They knew how to forage food along the river and in the woods. I have seen some field mouse traps hidden in thick bushes. A small pond I dug several years ago in the field has become a pond full of wild frogs. So, some villagers would go there at night to hunt for some frogs. People here have made frogs their sustenance long before the French did!

Many thoughts were on my mind on how to prepare these villagers for what to come in the future. It’s very difficult to build up a community ready to confront with various uncertainties and unexpected troubles created by adverse public policies. I had to confide in Mother Nature and ask for guidance of what actions I should take in preparation for the chaotic situation next year. I was always grateful for the protection and nourishment Mother Nature has been providing for me and everyone in the farmhouse, including looking after my cats.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.