The Greylag Goose

I last had my bottom pinched 40 years ago, trooping from dinner at an ancient university. The suspect, judging by his exaggerated wink, was a venerable ecclesiastical scholar.

The other day, while I was bending over to feed some friendly red-breasted geese,; ‘lag’ an old name for goose). Its grand contempt was not surprising: the domestic goose, established in Egypt 3,000 years ago – where the greylag symbolised the sun god Ra – is its descendant. With Christmas dinner approaching, its sharp tweak was a timely reproof.