We have bobtails roaming the streets and most people (except for that idiot up the road) slow down to avoid them.
The other day I got home from shopping to find the Next Door Neighbour out on the verge and visibly agitated. Because a dugite, well over a metre long, had slithered out from the garden bed she'd been working on earlier, and now lay stretched out on her front lawn.
We bundled the kids into the house, and I began the farcical process of ringing the council for help.
Five phone calls later, and it seems there is no snake-catcher in BeachTown.
So we stood around and watched it for while, and then someone tried to run it over and it bolted back into NDNs garden.
I put the dog in the house (dear Property Manager, if you're reading this, I know I know, but it was an emergency) then came back out to fetch the wheelie bin and spotted the snake, maybe five feet from me, coming out from under the hedge in our front yard!
I gracefully leaped back onto the patio, and watched as it made its' bid for freedom, across the road and down the fence to the beach. NDN and I think it was heading down there for frogs; there are a million of them in the ditch between the sand dunes.
Since then, a number of people have seen snakes around, and we mostly get dugites or tigers here so that is a bit of a worry.
The kids and I make sure to sing or talk loudly on our way to the beach (The Princess sings the Kookaburra Song and we hope that no stupid American companies are listening.
I feel sorry for you, snakes. You're running out of habitat, with all the new housing developments being built around here. But not so sorry that I will let you bite one of my kids. If you hear a song about kookaburras, please slither quickly away.
Thank you.
SCAREY STUFF Toni!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteack!! I have only seen 1 snake in my yard and that was many years ago. though Jessi randomly hears from me every once in a while "what do you do if you see a snake?". I've been asking her this since she was 3 or 4. She diligently answers "stand still and YELL!". I can only hope she never needs the advice.
ReplyDeleteThere are snakes EVERYWHERE here. One of our neighbours had a 7-foot python in their yard the other day.
ReplyDeleteWe used to have a pet snake at home - "Starkey" - but still the idea of a 7-footer isn't appealing. When I walk down to the bus stop in the morning, I tap a stick all the way like a crazy woman.