One morning in the early 1920’s I went to Sutton, Surrey on a business trip with my father, travelling in our horse trap – a 2-wheeled vehicle.

It was fun going out with Dad because he was so humorous and with so many little events to talk about. He was well known for his deep love of all animals and seemed to have a special healing ability with sick animals. On our way home to Wimbledon, Dad decided to make a quick call on a friend. George ran a country pub and I always found interesting people there, so I was pleased when Dad decided to stop for a short while.

We were warmly welcomed by George who said he had hoped that Dad would call in because his sister-in-law who was staying there needed to go to a very important meeting that day, but her horse needed shearing. Dad quickly told him that he hadn’t time to shear the horse as he had to be in London that afternoon and suggested that the farmer would do it for him. George knew that Dad was a Lighterman Pilot on the Thames and Dad reminded him that tides wait for no man. However George wouldn’t accept this and insisted that Dad could do it. So Dad went to the stables and when he returned a little later George said, “You surely haven’t had time to shear the horse already?” Dad smiled and his eyes twinkled and he said, “Go and see.”

When he returned he said, “Well I would not have thought it possible to shear the horse in that time – so have a drink – the horse looks fine.”

When we arrived home my mother said, “Edmund what have you done? George phoned and was very upset – almost inarticulate – and said something about not being able to take the horse out. What is it all about?” Dad laughed and said, “Well he insisted that I shear the horse when I clearly said I hadn’t time because I had to work according to the tides. He insisted that I could find the time. So I sheared one side of the horse and by then time ran out, so I stood the horse against the wall and it looked fine. So George has a little embarrassment and will need to ask the farmer to finish the job.”