Wednesday 18 May 2011

Ducks loose!

Oh yes, it's that time of year again when madness descends on the sleepy Kentish village of Loose and hundreds of yellow plastic ducks thunder (well, to be completely accurate, very slowly bob) along the Loose stream for the Loose Duck Race.

If you've never lived in a village you really would not believe the amount of organisation, cajoling, manipulation, charm, dedication and outright force of will it takes to make an event of this kind happen. To start with there are 875 ducks involved...and then there are the cakes...

...Everyone in the village bakes like mad (competition? Nous?) producing a cornucopia of georgeous scrumptiousness which will be scoffed within a couple of hours along with gallons of tea...and don't even mention the barbecue, which last year ran out of all meat orientated products two full hours before the end of proceedings. This year double the amount has been ordered but still the local butcher is on standby just in case...and we've got even more coconuts for the coconut shy...don't ask!

And did I mention plants? Not for us the usual collection of scraggy, pathetic, unidentifiable odds and ends that get offered at village fetes. Oh no. Our vegetable plants and annuals have been lovingly sown and nurtured by my neighbours Tom, Pat and David, and we'll also have some beautiful and interesting herbaceous plants, which is where I come in. Yippee, an orgy of plant buying from my trade nursery to look forward to!


It's a pretty exhausting day, and after all that bobbing the ducks always enjoy the leavings in the drip tray in the local.


If you're in the Maidstone area on the next Bank Holiday Monday (30th May) come on down to Loose. It's a lot of fun. And what have you got to Loose? Sorry...too good to resist.

15 comments:

Helen Lewis said...

Very funny! What happens to the ducks? Do they get collected afterwards?

Catherine said...

Oh yes. They have a medical each year to make sure they'e fit for the race. It's pretty strenuous!

Garden Decking said...

This looks like great fun!

michele said...

Such a cute idea to see the plastic ducks floating but I too wonder what happens to the ducks after the race?

Traumeel said...

Very funny way of time pass.I am impressed.I will try it.

Thanks
_______
Roger

lawn care said...

Do the ducks all have a number on the bottom and you win if you get number five? Brilliant game!

Brandi said...

I love gardening, and to be honest I like to share that passion with others too! There is a really nice app for us garden lovers that can capture that passion and it has the unique ability to share that passion with others. It is called [Instabouquet]!

You can personalize a bouquet and send it via text or email to a friend, coworker, family member and so on. There are quite a lot of occasions to choose from as well as a description of the flowers and there meanings.

Try it! http://www.finemobileapps.com

Thanks for the gardening tips friends, keep the green thumbs way up!

richard andrews said...

Sitting outside on my patio reading this funny blog

FIMS said...

Great site, blog and post :-)

Hybrid Flowers

Atlanta Internet Marketing said...

That’s funny, I ‘m interested to hear what happened to the ducks?

Asbestos Training said...

I can't wait to retire and move to a village. Living in the city all my life has been good but I now long for the country life

gardening said...

What a great event! I've never heard of it and I used to live in Kent! I'll definitely make time to attend next year

Plc Training in Chennai said...

cute ducks i mostly like ducks

Katya said...

Wow! Great idea!Funny!

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