Oh Bother !!!

I set out on my walk this afternoon and had only taken a few steps when I realised I'd not taken my camera with me. You know, the compact one I bought recently so that I could take it with me at all times so that never again would the words "damn I wish I'd got a camera with me now" pass my lips.

Those first few steps proved to be my undoing as I decided I was already too far from the house to turn back for the camera.  Too far ?  I was about 20 feet from the house and another 3 from the camera !!!

So I carried on and as I walked, I decided to change my whole routine.  Instead of doing a fast paced 2.5 mile walk for 40 minutes or less, I'd slow down a bit and walk for a full hour.  This meant I could walk where I wanted and not be tied, so to speak, to a pre planned 2.5 mile route around the park. Hurrah.  The shackles were off and I felt giddy and breathless with my new found freedom. Either that or my asthma had just kicked in.

I was making up a mental route as I walked and wanted to start by going towards the lake and taking the golf cart path which would take me past the bocce courts and the cafe and bring me back out onto the paved road again.  Yes folks I was planning on going "off road".

So about 90 seconds after setting off, I rounded the corner leading to the lake and came upon a snake in the road. Not a fork.  A snake.  And a very much alive snake at that. It had come out of the undergrowth to my right and most of its body was on the road with perhaps 1/4 of it still on the grass but in plain view. It was a beauty.

As it was just lying there, enjoying the warm tarmac, I decided to scoot home and get my camera, the Canon with the telephoto lens as I wasn't using macro on this sucker.  I ran as fast as my asthma would let me and then biked back to the spot all within 2 minutes......by which time the snake had had a pint and a ciggie and slithered back into the undergrowth.  D'ohhh.

I was gutted.  It was my first real snake in the wild as the black one we saw a while ago had been up against a house wall and so not easy to see properly. I'd also seen one on the golf course but again, not in plain view like this one.  It was also a lovely looking snake but that's about all I can say about it.  The idea of getting my camera had entered my poor lard filled brain (see previous post) so fast that I never got a chance to study the snake properly.  It was quite long, about 2.5 to 3 ft and twice as thick as a mans thumb.  As for its colour and markings, I might as well try and remember who came out of Wal-Mart behind me last Wednesday.  Just ain't gonna happen.

It wasn't red or black, that much I do remember.  A light brown maybe, going towards orangy. God I'd be useless at a police lineup.  

"Him !  Him right on the end.  Nasty sneering lips.  Evil eyes and those eyebrows.  I'd know the bastard anywhere."

"That's our custody sergeant, sir. PC Williams"

So that was it.  I've no photo of the snake to upload.  As well as not having a record of my first proper snake, I've nothing to help me identify it either.  It will forever be.....the snake.  

Sometimes I'm glad I don't have grandchildren.  I'd be SUCH a disappointment to them.