INTRUDER AT THE A.O.G. DAY 11

The Snail contingent were all ready and raring to go in the Snail Synchronised Swimming Event this morning - they had all showered, had breakfast and were waiting outside the swimming pool door. 

As soon as the doors opened, they slithered in and got their cozzies on and were standing on the edge of the pool ready to jump in when the starter’s gun went.  The gun fired and they all jumped in - Shaun and Sammy got to their places and Siegfried and Solomon brought up the rear.

I had a “bird’s eye view” - or perhaps that should be a “snail’s shell view” - and all seemed to be going well but then horror of horrors, I saw an intruder in the pool - there was a lot of shouting going on “Get that intruder out!”  and “Disqualify the snails!”  However, the intruder just sat there with what looked like HUGE eyes looking all around - obviously not quite sure what was happening.

Sammy gathered all the snails together on the other side of the pool and was obviously giving them another pep talk.  I could hear him saying, “Sometimes things happen that challenge us and we can either get over them and carry on or allow them to defeat us - come on lads - let’s get over this and show the spectators what we are made of!”

The adjudicators soon sorted things out and oiked the intruder out of the water and onto the side of the pool.  By this time he was gasping for breath and what looked like large eyes were rolling around.  Someone got him a drink and he quietened down.  Of course, I was there with the microphone ready to do a poolside interview.  

He told me he was an Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar - his actual name was Deilephila Elepanor but his friends called him Elton, which was easier to say!  He said that his life span was only five weeks once he had changed into a moth and his ambition had always been to take part in the A.O.G.  He had arrived last night and had waited outside the swimming pool door and when the pool had opened this morning he seized his chance to crawl in.  He said that he hadn’t meant to get involved in the Snail Synchronised Swimming Event, but before he knew it, he was in the water and just had to keep going.  

He knew that the snails were scared when his head had swelled up to show what looked like huge eyes, but he only wanted to scare them off and didn’t mean to hurt anyone.  This was what he did to scare off predators.  However, once he had become a fully grown moth, he would be a beautiful golden olive colour with bright pink bars on his body and hoped he would be attractive and not look as fearsome.

I told him that nothing much would scare off these intrepid snails as they were well buoyed up after having a poolside pep talk from their trainer, Sammy.

I told Elton I had taken several photographs and asked if he would mind me sharing that and his story on Blipfoto, as they had sponsored the A.O.G.  He said he was happy for me to do that and in fact, it would make his Mum very happy to see him at the A.O.G. Because she knew how much he had wanted to be here.  Meanwhile, Sammy and his slithering snail team carried on to win another Gold Medal despite all the excitement of the morning.

If you want to read more about the Elephant Hawk Moth, have a look here.

“The tests we face on life's journey 
     are not to reveal our weaknesses 
          but to help us discover 
               our inner strengths. 
We can only know how strong we are 
     when we strive and thrive 
          beyond the challenges we face.” 
Kemi Sogunle

P.S.  Mr. HCB has been playing at being a lumberjack again this morning - see extra - and I have been his assistant - I didn't need to hold the ladder while he and our next door neighbour, Mike, chopped down trees, but I did do a lot of the cutting up once the branches were down.  It was hard work, but will all be worth it in the end.