Head Posh Boy

Hey all,

Head Posh Boy: actually finished a university degree and is at farm due to parents' request to the Boss to Give Our Son A Job (the gentry do these small favours for each other, c/f Kenya) – despite the fact that he could sit around until the money rolls in he worked hard, cheerfully, reliably, and generally impressed everyone, even Big and Little Kiwi, who noted that Head Posh Boy was “a f***ing good c***.”  Reminded me a bit of Shakespeare's young Henry – get the feeling that the moment it becomes necessary to stop pissing around doing nothing with his life he will do just that, leaving his Falstaffs in the dust behind him.  His career as a Christmas Tree harvester bought to a tragic end when he fell off a pallet onto the concrete and smashed his elbow.  He lay there groaning, especially when Head Romanian started moving his arm to see if it hurt – he was prevented doing any more damage to Head Posh Boy's elbow by Canada, who used to get paid to play ice hockey, so has seen a lot of smashed limbs in his young life, and told him to stop moving HPB's arm about because, you know, bone on bone grinding hurts and compounds the injury. HPB was eventually taken to hospital (by a very nervous Boss, worried about HPB's parents, who could buy or sue The Boss into bankruptcy with their small change) and operated on the next day: now has an elbow full of titanium plates and self-tapping screws.

Canada took the trouble to make a chalk outline of the body with pine needles (see below), further embellishing the scene with police tape made of baling twine and CSI-ish numbers on little paper triangles showing the progress of the accident.  It had a more serious and profound effect on The Boss, who took the health and safety implications to heart, making a number of important changes to the work place:  for example, when the floor turned into an ice rink a few days later he called me aside (in the background the huge forklift did wild, out of control doughnuts while trying to turn a corner: a stampeding elephant of steel), pointed to the ice rink, said “This stuff is deadly, B.  I don't want any more accidents!”  This initiative helped a lot.  There were several more like it, equally effective.

Photos.  1.  The view one morning, wind turbines visible in background.  Photo taken by Canada with his camera.  2, 3.  The scene of the accident, photos taken by Big Kiwi with his – did not ask permission to use these shots, but then all the ones I gave him now adorn his facebook page – what can you expect of people who interfere with sheep? ;)

Cheers, B.