Tractors and Golden Eagles

Having published many articles in my time I have always been reticent about writing a book. Awareness  of what falconry, horses or dogs might mean to the reader commands my  respect and admiration for the reader's undoubted talent in surviving the many challenges and demands imposed. He must be far more aware of his world than I can be.

For instance today's challenge is what do you call that thing at the front of the tractor? The spindle in the centre of the front axle (is it called the axle?) where it passes under the chassis and engine which pivots the whole front mechanism? Why? Because it's sticking out the front about 3 inches and it should not be. It's obvious that if it comes out anymore then the whole front  end of wheels, axle and steering will simply fall off and the engine will be on the ground! Am I a mechanic  - I don't even know the name of the part or how to describe it to find it on the internet. After a couple of wasted hours on Google I am no further forward and end up calling Karl, a voice from the past, but a real mechanic who fixed it the last time it happened. Of course Karl is also a falconer and it turns out he now has a male Golden Eagle he is using for hares in our big Norfolk arable prairie.

I have always struggled with practical things, flat-packs were long ago given up as hopeless. Jenny and I learned of my limits in DIY (Do It Yourself) efforts soon after we moved here forty years ago when the toilet  cistern stopped working. Simple, fit a new plastic washer in the mechanism, cost 5p. and Jenny brought one home.

Looked it up in Readers Digest Home Repairs and set to with tools neatly paid out on the bathroom floor. First is to lift off the ceramic lid of the cistern, easy - I dropped it on the toilet seat, that smashed into 20 pieces, the toilet seat was plastic and shattered, the bowl of the toilet was ceramic and cracked down to the floor with a resultant gentle seepage of water from the bowl. However, not to be downhearted I carried on and fitted the new washer and cured the initial problem, adeptly used some adhesive to stick the ceramic lid back together, fitted a new plastic toilet seat, used bathroom  sealant smeared over the main crack to seal up the bowl -  'job's a good'n!'

So it remained for about 9 months until one day I visited a friend to find his bathroom suite on the front lawn. 'I chipped the sink and the insurance is fitting a new suite' he said with a  smile. I had never thought to claim on the insurance for our mishap and soon called the agent when I got home. The Loss Adjuster arrived a few days later optimistically saying he could soon find a new toilet of the same shade of green  - but then there was an ominous silence for 6 weeks before he called to say that the colour was discontinued and he could not find one anywhere in the country, 'please get a couple of quotes for the whole suite.'

I called the builder and bathroom fitter who came out to appraise. We live in a XV1'th century thatched cottage and no room is standard in any way, it is an oak timber framed, lathe and plaster structure with this bathroom being 'bespoke' when fitted,  the bath of a unique size. To cut a long story short it meant that the walls had to be removed and the whole bathroom remodelled to accommodate another unique suite that had to be imported from Germany.  The fitter eventually arrived and after another month or so we had a whole new bathroom, the 5p washer fitting cost about £20,000 in today's money! I am not good at DIY, it's a fact. If it does not live and breathe and respond to me then it is a complete mystery to me, best left alone.

I have bred and started many horses, dogs and hawks during my lifetime and each has been my tutor. Blessed with so many amazing animals my life has achieved an unpredictable direction whilst over the years I have noticed an evolution that is sometimes of interest to others and often in need of some explanation. Each animal is unique and reacts to its encounter with man individually. Most people learn about their animals 'hands on' whilst the wealth of human experience remains in the written record available to all. 

There are numerous 'how to' books in the world. Indeed in 1955 when as a ten year old boy I was first interested in falconry I wrote to the British Falconers' Club to apply for membership and help only to be initially soundly rejected by what was then an elite small group of people. Frustrated I did manage to obtain a list of historic books and cheerfully took it to the local public library.

'My word they are old, they will take a few days to get' said the lady behind the counter but it was only a week or so later a card in the mail informing they had arrived and were awaiting me!  Of course my naivety failed to recognise my privilege. The books had been sent from the British Museum and I could not take them home but was given facility to study them in the library, white gloves provided! It was not until 1967 that Ridley MacPhail proposed me as a member of the club and  perhaps because of this experience, when many years later I became president of the British Falconers' Club, one of my concerns was in advancing the welfare of the Club Library available to members and today mostly housed in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

Today's would be falconer, dog trainer or equine student is spoilt for choice with so many excellent manuals to guide his/her  first steps. Once embarked upon the journey  both  novice and professional expert will forever be seeking greater insight, deeper knowledge and ways to advance beyond what he has today. In that quest much can be gained from the experience of others and in that light anecdotes such as I recall of my life with my animals are still fresh for me as new life arrives. Perhaps it will be of some amusement in finding your way tomorrow.

But meanwhile Karl arrived, obviously a little stiff from his recent hip operation and after a chat in the conservatory under the shade of the newly leafed grape vine, catching up on life, hearing about his eagle and wondering how to make cheese (that's another story) he finally showed me how the centre pivot fits into a sleeve for which two jacks are needed to hold chassis and engine separately from the front axle assembly. Google comes up with several pages on the subject when you know what it's called. After lunch with gentle hammer strokes, jemmy bar and the extra jack, it only took a few minutes to get back in place, I am a mechanic after all! All I need now is the clip that stops it all moving about  and coming apart again - I wonder what that is called?