Sunday 12th June (Le Sabot de Frotey: Nearly Eaten Alive)


Mr. Kite looked out of The Joint window onto the lake where the beach was being cleaned readily for the bathers on this warm Sunday morning.

After yesterday's poor showing at Le Sabot de Frotey, the Devil's Shoe), Mr. Kite was determined to find the creatures that this site is well known for; Nightjars, Wryneck, Grey-headed Woodpeckers and Praying Mantis.

So Mr. Kite was well prepared for a day's searching in the warm sunshine. Now Mr. Kite entered the sight and carefully walked towards the summit stopping in places to search the ground, the bushes, the sky, under stones and near holes.

Grasshoppers hopped and Mr. Kite spotted Chiffchaff and Chaffinch. Near the summit Mr. Kite sat for hours on a bench watching and listening and saw very little. Now this is a microclimate and has some unusual insects. Now whilst Mr. Kite was sitting on a bench a greenish fly flew into his leg and tried to eat Mr. Kite. It's fangs sank into Mr. Kites leg as it started biting and eating. Mr. Kite might expect to be eaten by a tiger in India but not a fly in France; so in this life and death battle Mr. Kite fought back.

For two minutes the ferocious fight continued with blood coming from Mr. Kite's leg. So Mr. Kite in a last fling broke the insect into pieces leaving it's fangs and head inserted in his left leg.

Mr. Kite continued his searching of the site until five in the afternoon when he returned to The Joint for a tipple of Chimay Peres Trappistes. Cheer from the victorious Mr. Kite who has just picked the fangs from his leg with tweezers and mopped up the blood.