This morning
my dog
ran at a man in my garden.
He was checking-out the height
of the conifers
and
offered
to trim
and even
remove
all the
debris.
As far as I could see
he was just
doing his job.
Travelling around
looking
for overgrown
gardens
and offering
services.
Yet, he knocked at the back door;
which in itself was odd
as we have a perfectly
good front doorbell.
Perhaps that is how gardeners go.
(The last one we had showed a special interest in my neighbour’s lawn).
He was solid, tall,
wearing an orange jumpsuit.
Perhaps in his late 50’s
greying hair.
my dog skeetered to the door
as she does
when anyone arrives.
And squeezed her way out.
For a moment the guy looked
scared
as anyone would
when 20kg of
unknown black and white hound
are flying at them.
And in that split second,
I thought;
good dog!
before rushing her inside.
Then I thought,
poor man,
this is how he earns his living.
And I didn’t take him up on the offer of tree surgery
although
I took the tattered orange
calling card.
I now don’t know if he was genuine or
a prowler,
I strongly suspect the former,
as
who would dress-up in orange,
with matching props
to case a joint?
And this a corollary of our times.
Locked-up behind doors
frightened,
as fearful as my dog
who displays her anxieties
by barking
and raised hackles.
I am not sure how I express my fears;
perhaps
writing,
perhaps,
worry
or
Dr Rod’s Odd Blog (almondemotion) 
Your dog is defending her territory – your gardener does sound authentic but hard to judge – writing and worry ……… yes and maybe ……….. cringing, no!
{ I do worry but try to think along the lines ‘ begone dull care ‘ – helps to do that when a sense of fastfleeting time becomes an accepted reality}.
Dog { in winter ] – Leaps into life, giving a great word-picture/cameo of how we live now.
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it transpires that this is the poor guy who cut our trees last year – if only he’d told me at the time! will try to get him back if he will come back.
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Sigh!
It’s a sad world we live in when we can’t decided whether the stranger is genuine or has ulterior motives (that we need fear).
I sometimes wish that the world was just the same as when I was a small child in the 1950s and it was safe to roam the local streets, go down to the local park on your own, walk home from school on your own, or go to a friend’s place after school to ‘play’ indoors, outdoors or the local park together……then walk home at dusk.
Gone are the days when young(ish) children could explore their neighbourhood, catch tadpoles in the nearby pond, climb trees in the bushland/forest behind their home or knock on a stranger’s door to ask directions.
Gone are the days when a stranger was a Person (you had yet to meet or befriend) 🙂
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I know Vicki, it is gutting… it later transpired that the guy had previously worked in our garden – I just didn’t know. The irony is that our world is many times safer than in the 50’s – it is just that we perceive more risk, we fear more – much manipulated by politicians and the media. Happy times. Thanks for the comment. Rod
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You’re welcome Rod. By the way, I have 3 blogs, but mainly write and share my photography on my Nature blog if you’re a nature lover. It runs sort of like a diary and is not meant to be anything like my (now) very rare B & W street photography.
https://vickialfordnatureblog.wordpress.com
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Cheers – I will check out the nature blog; I love your B&W photos. I enjoy taking pictures also although I seem to have lost my skill in the art over the past few years – part of me wonders whether it is my camera or me…!
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You never lose your Photographer’s eye (if you have one and not everyone does).
Perhaps you have just lost the art of ‘seeing’. The ability to shut out the extraneous and focus on the subject(s) or details. I remember when I started my first Google nature blog back in 2009, (now deleted) and someone commented that they would never have seen (the subject) that I spotted and featured in my image.
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Yes… Not sure; I think I probably had/have it but life circumstances have changed and I am far less in situations where I am able to perceive – far too much doing and worrying and not enough being!
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