Dear Readers, Thursday was the day that I had my retirement celebrations at work, and what a delight it was. I worked on a City Farm in Dundee for a couple of years when I was straight out of university – it was a place of education for children, of work for the homeless people who used the adjoining day centre, and of solace for lots of people. There’s something about contact with animals, and with the soil, that is very healing, and going to Mudchute, which is on the Isle of Dogs opposite the towers of Canary Wharf felt like a way of coming full circle, from my first paid job to what is probably my last. I was very moved that the person who arranged it had gotten things so right.
Sheep at Mudchute City Farm
I know that you are not supposed to have favourites, and I loved all the animals that I worked with, from the cantankerous Anglo-Nubian goat who would butt every body out of the way when food was around to the over-sexed male lop rabbit who would attach himself to my wellington boot and hump away whenever I was trying to change his feed. But the pigs really won my heart. Intelligent and wily and full of character, I loved going to visit them. I was a very young person, and I was far away from home and sometimes very hung over in the early morning when I went to feed them. I would try to sneak into the farm without alerting them to my presence but the two sows that we had were often propped up on their stall wall, bawling their heads off as soon as they saw me.
On one occasion, the pigs managed to get through the two locks on their sty and to nudge the bolt on the main gate open. They then managed to make their way to the bus station, where they wreaked havoc with the buses and the passengers.. Eventually I managed to lure them home with a bucket full of chicken legs (their favourite food). Once back in their sty, I fixed an additional lock. They looked at me with an unimpressed expression. The next day, they were still in their sty but the door was open, as if to say ‘look, we can still get out if we choose to’.
The winters in Dundee are freezing, and there were never enough places in the night shelter for the men who wanted to stay there. On one occasion, I came in in the morning to find the two sows exiting their sty for their breakfast along with the notorious Dyke Leslie, something of a local homeless character. He modelled himself on The Outlaw Josie Wales from the Clint Eastwood films, and was once reputed to have stuffed a dead seagull through the letterbox of a girlfriend who’d jilted him. Anyhow, Dyke had apparently had a warm and peaceful night cuddled up with the pigs. What they thought of it wasn’t clear.
Anyhow, I loved seeing the pigs today. It was an emotional day and I feel completely drained, but also content. It was lovely to feel so appreciated, and to have time to tell the people that I’ve worked with how very much I appreciated them. It felt like a fitting finale. I couldn’t be more grateful.
Giant Tamworth Ginger Pig!
What a delightful sounding send-off! One of my granddaughters has loved pigs since she was very small. She still does and this empathy she has for pigs remains a strong factor in her (long-running) desire to become a vet focusing on farm animals.
Ah, how lovely of your grand daughter! Good vets are so important in farm animal husbandry, but I imagine it can be difficult to balance what the animal and the farmer want sometimes. Good luck to her!
Such intelligent and dare one say humorous animals. Sounds like a perfect occasion. I am a year into retirement and I love it. Didn’t do much the first few months though; time to rest and plan. Wishing you a marvellous and fun filled retirement.
Thank you Rosie, so glad you’re enjoying your retirement! And I intend to try not to get too busy in my first few months, though it’s a big temptation to get stuck into everything simultaneously.
Congratulations on your retirement and best wishes for an interesting future full of learning!
What a thoughtful leaving-do and lovely day 🙂
I wonder if you had a chance to visit the City Farm near Kentish Town? I’ve been there a few times and it was heartwarming – they also have some pigs.
Thank you! It was a really lovely day. And no I haven’t been to the Kentish Town city farm, I must do a tour of the London ones.
How very lovely! I feel so pleased for you that you felt so understood, as well as all the other forms of appreciation that came your way. Given your obviously industrious nature, coupled with energy, enthusiasm and just downright nice personness, all of which gleams through these blogs, I’m sure it was all richly deserved.
Thank you Rosalind, what a lovely thing to say! I was very lucky to work with such a great team.
What a wonderfully thoughtful thing for your colleagues to do for you. I didn’t know about Mudchute City Farm, so it was quite surreal to see a photo of sheep with Canary Wharf in the background. And I love the story about the clever Dundee pigs! I wish you all the best for your retirement – I’m sure you’ll be doing lots of exciting things. I’m so envious!
Thanks Liz! And yes, it was so thoughtful – I was lucky to work with such a lovely team. When I had my Zoom goodbye (because half my team are in South Africa and in addition there are people all over the place) we even had a nature quiz 🙂 which helped lift the emotions a bit.
A perfect last day for you at work…enjoy your new found freedoms!
It was perfect, wasn’t it. I work(ed) with such a lovely team.