The scanner at the checkout beeps at the phenomenal speed of the cashier's hands. Then a voice next to me goes: "There's a horse outside, a big horse!"
A bag drops into into the shopping cart, there's a patter of feet, the exit door swooshes.
After finishing up bagging the weekend groceries and wishing the cashier a good weekend, I push the cart towards the exit.
And there it is.
A big draft horse tied to the bicycle rack on the pavement right next to the entrance of our small grocery store in the small hillside town in Germany.
A horse tied to the bicycle rack at a German store in the 21st century is unexpected, only one or two steps down from a flying saucer with a couple of smiling little green men.
Several adults and a couple of kids stand there, looking, chattering.
This is another "f***, where is my cell phone" moment. You'll just have to believe me.
A few minutes of conversation with the owner, a young man in a bright orange safety vest, brings more context. The horse is calmly taking in the scenery, explained by the fact that they make the trip to the store on a regular basis. He plans to use the tall, strong male for hauling lumber.
You don't have to be familiar with the crazy goings-on of the Discovery Channel's series American Loggers to know that huge machinery is doing the job these days.
And the young man is more than aware of this. There is no one around here who uses horses to haul lumber, he explains. I need to be careful and research well, because, if I mess up just once he'll refuse, and then I have a great but useless horse.
Rolling the shopping cart to the car, this overcast, drizzly quintessentially English feeling winter day feels outright joyful.
No comments:
Post a Comment