The phone ringing after 10pm is never a good sign. At best, it's a wrong number. At worst, it's a family emergency and you take a few seconds to compose yourself, knowing that your world is potentially about to be turned upside down. There is however another reason that the phone rings at such an hour : Sheep. Sheep problems to be precise.
Sheep on the hill in late Winter
So as the phone rings, I brace myself for the unknown. My husband answers it. I note the concern in his voice and I hear a woman on the other end. She speaks loud and fast, with a distinct lilt to her voice. He puts down the handset and starts to pull a jumper on. Sheep. It’s a sheep problem. I release the breath that I’ve been holding and start to get my socks and boots on. We head out into the half light of impending night, armed with a crook and the knowledge of a garbled message. Something about a sick lamb potentially in someone’s living room, a towel and a ‘herd of sheep’.