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At McDermott Close, Lake Ginninderra this afternoon, accompanied by Peta, a
little niece we were taking care of for the day, I was feeding bread to duckies.
Yes, yes, I know one shouldn't but try telling Miss Five-Year-Old that. Anyhow,
it may well be the start of a lifelong love of birds for her.
We watched a large water rat swimming in shallows close to the shore.
Then it came ashore and slinked about sniffing the ground as it went.
Ashore, it moved quickly but with a wonderful, flowing movement which
reminded me of an otter foraging on land. Yeah, I've seen lots otters - in
wildlife docos on TV.
Peta held my hand and hid behind me. "Just stand still and watch," I
said "it won't hurt us, it's a water rat, like Ratty in Wind in the
Willows". Peta has a large-format, illustrated edition. Curiosity
quickly overcame apprehension, and Peta was disappointed when, fifteen seconds
later, Ratty returned to his aquatic habitat. At Peta's urging, we looked for
Mole and Badger for a while, but no luck there and then we ran out of duck
bread.
Back home, Elder Brat served us biscuits and poured milk while Peta poured
out our encounter with Ratty. "Was Ratty in his row boat?" EB inquired brightly.
"No, he was in the water, so he must have fallen out," little Peta replied
soberly. Ah bliss! That little adventure made my day.
John Layton, or as one dear member recently insinuated, off-line,
Lay(it)on. Very clever. Very funny!
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