Calling Border Control

About 2 months ago, I had the wonderful fortune of having to go across town on foot. In order to get there, I had to cut through a school. This school consisted of a couple of baseball fields, with a soccer field in between, then a slight hill after a service road past the back of the school that leads to another soccer field, then out into a dead end.

So often when I have to walk to the other side of town, this is my usual route. The only drawback are the geese. Canadian, to be specific, those winged rodents that seen to inhabit most of our open green spaces.

Well, on this particular Saturday morning, I was both struck by the basically belligerent posture of the geese, and frankly, a little frightened.

You see, as I went past the first set of fields, the geese decided that I was worth checking out, so some of them started moving towards my intended path, slowly & surreptitiously, not making eye contact, and with little quackling like noises. As I got closer, they got more of their friends involved, but again, just a bit.

I stared them down, singing g-d save the queen to pacify them a bit, and went up the hill, with just a small guard escorting me. As I looked over, I noticed a small gaggle of young geese behind the building, smoking with the ground littered with bottles of Labatts ale (They ARE Canadian, you know). I picked up the pace a bit, and thought I had lost them when I cleared the hill, only to find the scene repeated on the upper field as well.

Or the whole scenario could have been exacerbated by the three shots of liquid "fortification" I had to deal with the issue I was walking towards.

Either way, when I had the same. Unfortunate opportunity to go cross town again this past week, I noticed that...

THEY WERE GONE!!!!

Yup, the geese had left. After years of them happily staying put throughout the winter, this bunch finally decided to, I assume, head for warmer climes for the winter like all good geese do. Maybe it was the cold, the jump in the cigarette tax, or some do-gooder decided to get them all into a shelter and rehab/training center for wayward geese, but for now, I can cross the fields without fear of my ankles being pecked black and blue.

However, they did leave behind little green reminders.