Alejandro's first UPDATE

Goats and Well Dressings

Hola Amigos! Me llamo Alejandro! Mis amigos nuevos acqui I mean my new friends here some of them call me Handy. Pedro says I shouldn't let them because it's a sarcastic reference to my hooves and also nicknames are a regressive bourgeois concept but nooooo. It's nice. So Hola! I am Alejandro or Handy! Whichever you prefer!

I have been wanting to talk to you peoples. I said to Ghost, can I do an UPDATE like you and she said, noooo Al-e-jan-dro UPDATES are very professional things blah blah blah not for you and anyway what is your view on the Strategic Plan Alejandro I bet you have not got one have you. Which I have not! What is a Strategic Plan, it is nonsense, Ghost does not know what it is either though she pretends. In fact: this Strategic Plan, has anyone actually seen one, no, they have not, no es bueno, in fact it is something very silly, that is what I think, if I were Ghost I would think about my pretty white fur and my crochet which I secretly love and my biscuits and not worry about Strategic Plans. Then she said, but if you change your mind about doing a few SKIRMISHES up Ecclesall Road in Sheffield then you can do as many UPDATES as you want. But I say to Ghost, I have left all that behind, I do not fight. I am a Goat Of Peace now. I live in a cottage in Ashford On The Water and I do not do any of that. I live with my Goat Friends Pedro and Maria and some of the other goats have gone to live in Eyam just down the road and a few in Chesterfield and we are all having a lovely time, we get together and play our Ukuleles and have Derbyshire Tapas which is sausage rolls and we have Coffee and also Dandelion and Burdock and I do not want to fight. So what do I do instead of fighting?

Yes. Is correct. I like to do well dressings.

Well (that is the same word. Do you see how English can be silly?) I come from a small village in the mountains in the South of Spain. Muy beautiful, muy sympatico but very, very hot and often not mucho agua because there is often not lots of rain. Excuse my English, is still a work in progress, I find is often still better than everyone else's Spanish for well dressing purposes though so I persevere. Anyway this is my point: I did not always live in the small village. Before that I lived in Granada, my father and his father before him worked on restoring the Alhambra, Ghost say do not tell me about any Alhambras, Alejandro, I do not want to know about tiles and nonsense. But I like things where, how you say, lots of little things put together to make bigger picture.

[Pedro says I mean mosaics. Pedro says mosaics ok because a good form of expression for the historically oppressed classes as can use broken crockery. I think he has made this up]

And well dressings are mosaics! But they are made of little things that are not tiles. They are made of flowers and leafs and seeds. So they do not last as long as the Alhambra. They only last about a week. We do not have well dressings in my village in Spain but I think we should because we have wells. A few years ago the wells ran dry. Lots of rain since then although it has caused terrible trouble! But I think if we dressed the wells with lovely pictures they (the wells) might find it encouraging!

Anyway this is our well dressing we have been working on! This is in Buxton. We also made some in Ashford in the Water but those have finished now. Susie didn't have her SUBSTACK at that point to show you. But luckily she is in time for the Buxton ones because I encouraged her, so you can all see what I did. Do you like it? It was my idea to base it on Vermeer. Brian said, huh very educated aren't we Alejandro. Brian does not call me Handy. I do not like Brian. Brian wanted a different theme with a tractor: but everyone else agreed with me that we should do Vermeer. I did not ask Pedro what he thought, tractor or Vermeer, because I thought it might annoy me and he might start going on about the proletariat.

This is another Well Dressing. Pedro worked on this one. There is a lot of white in it so I thought he would not mess it up with his hooves. Pedro says, you have hooves too, Alejandro. I do, but mine are very delicate.

This one was made by Children. There are two others and together they say Buxton Community School. Is nice to encourage the youngsters. But, you can see there are cats in the bottom right. I do not really think cats are a suitable subject for our young ones. Cats are quite belligerent creatures. That is what I have found. Goats are gentle and good with ukuleles, but Cats are cunning strategists. Pedro says we must not stereotype and also I must not let Ghost scare me as she is just a soft pretty cat and muy muy pequeña, but. That is my experience, and that is what I tell to you.

I hope you have enjoyed our well dressings we have been working on and my UPDATE. I will ask Susie if I can do more UPDATES on her SUBSTACK. Please do not mention this to CATS. I hope you all have a lovely week. Can I recommend having a few nice cups of tea and a Tunnocks Teacake? They are fabulous things, buenisimo. Hasta pronto!

Alejandro