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I set the alarm for 6AM which was a bit over-ambitious as it was still dark when I was woken. I then reset it for 6.45 and got some extra sleep. At 7AM I headed out to the golf course.
It was a beautiful morning with the sun coming up with the promise of a lovely day. The marks in the grass showed where I walked and the dew-covered greens tracked the ball.
I played well and did a quick 9 holes before returning home and completing the 'trailer pad' before it got too hot.
There's something special about playing golf at dawn. Usually there's no-one else around and it's quiet apart from the birds waking up. This morning the overriding calls were from the magpies in the big pine trees.
THE MAGPIESby Dennis Glover
When Tom and Elizabeth took the farm
The bracken made their bed
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said
Tom's hand was strong to the plough
and Elizabeth's lips were red
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said
Year in year out they worked
while the pines grew overhead
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said
But all the beautiful crops soon went
to the mortgage man instead
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said
Elizabeth is dead now (it's long ago)
Old Tom's gone light in the head
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said
The farm's still there. Mortgage corporations
couldn't give it away
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies say.
My mum used to recite that poem to us when we were kids. She was brought up in South Canterbury - Eiffelton near Ashburton. There were huge macrocarpa hedges bordering the farms as well as very old, tall pine and other conifer plantations. The magpies would roost in the high branches and call out with that cry that Glover has captured so well.
The sound resonated with me as it did with my mother, when I holidayed at the old family dwelling.
I remember crisp frosty mornings with thick ice in the water pump reservoir, the stunning sight of the snowcapped Southern Alps in the distance and of course, the magpies saying quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle.
