28 March 2007

Skyscrapers and Sheep: London Neighbours

Today I met Bob very close to his school and we went to Mudchute Park and Farm, London's largest urban farm, just one kilometre from the skyscraper warren of Canary Wharf, whose One Canada Square is the tallest inhabited building in the UK. We first passed by the equestrian centre, where we met picture-perfect Angelo,
shy Danny,
Poppy, disinterested Bobby,
Cindy, and her irritable neighbour Naddy, who didn't have any people to bite, so she settled for the nearby reins.
We were lured away from the horses by the most bizarre noises, which sounded like a yelling contest between grumpy old men, sped up to double- or triple-time. The owners of those incredible lungs turned out to be these impossibly cute goats:

Next to the goats was this GIANT rabbit. I had trouble taking a photo that would accurately show the scale of the rabbit, but the creatures in the pen beside the rabbit are quite large guinea pigs, if that helps.
Moving along, we came across some rather crazy-looking chickens
and one angry turkey. Actually, he just looked angry, but we found out that he was just doing his best to look impressive for the nearby female turkey. His head turned bright blue and then bright red and he fanned out his feathers and dragged his wings on the ground, all the while making the most threatening, drumming, robotic noise.
As amazing as we thought he was, the female turkey didn't seem very impressed. Around this time, the farm began to close and some school-aged volunteers went into the pen to herd the chickens and turkeys inside for the night. It was an easy job, except for Mr. Turkey, who refused to go inside, preferring instead to continue his prancing (even though the female turkey was already inside). The boys were clearly afraid of the turkey and half-heartedly tried to corral him without success. Finally a young man appeared, yelling, "Please do not tell me that you are scared of a turkey," to which the three boys immediately replied, "Yes, we are!" The man passed by us, muttering, "I do not get paid enough for this," marched into the cage, picked up the turkey (who immediately deflated his grand display), and tucked him away for the night. The last farm inhabitants we saw were the sheep,
with the buildings of Canary Wharf (including One Canada Square in the middle) silhouetted behind them.
An odd sight, don't you think?

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