Local papers short on material simply love it when there’s a semi-humorous angle to what would otherwise be a tedious everyday occurrence, e.g. one person having their sleep disturbed.
Surrey Comet, 27 July 2010 (story):
Lost sheep wakes Worcester Park resident
While some people trying counting sheep as way of falling asleep, one Worcester Park resident was awoken by an errant ewe wandering through her street.
Michelle Williams was woken at 1am on Sunday night to the sound of bleating in her front garden in Clarkes Avenue.
Dressed in their night clothes, Mrs Williams, 45, and daughter, Jayde, 24, ventured out and tried to lure the sheep towards their home – without a great deal of success.
But Jayde came up with the ingenious idea of recording the sheep bleating on her iphone and then replaying the recording to the animal.
Hearing what it thought was another sheep, the woolly-wanderer finally followed them through the gate at the back of their house and safely into their back garden.
I’m sure there’s a word for this kind of behaviour. Shame on the Surrey Comet for (a) advocating it and (b) publishing tips on how to achieve it.
Some wonderful detail here though:
The sheep even had a slap-up breakfast of bread and shreddies before making friends with the family’s two-year-old pet French Bulldog called Rocky.
Jayde said: “They’ve been touching noses.”
Rather than recording sheep sounds onto the iPhone (sooo 2009), there must surely be an app (sic) for attracting vulnerable ewes into your back garden.