In the Circus, in South Africa, wash days are sometimes very exciting and at the same time very anxious times.
You can never be quite sure what might happen, as often there is only one water tap, for all the animals and the humans too.
The water runs into a long open tank. Can you just imagine that?
The humans have a timetable, which tells them when they can use the tap and tank.
However, wild animals can smell water from a long way off and do not know anything about working to timetables.
They just appear when they are thirsty or fancy having a bath.
It takes a long time for elephants to have a drink?
They don’t just have one or two cups or glasses of water like us.
They have gallons and gallons of water at a time.
During this, a lot of sucking, splashing, spraying and dribbling goes on.
The humans have hardly any warnings about these untimed visits.
They are sometimes unable to move their washing or dishes out of the way to safety, quickly enough.
No amount of shouting or waving stops the thirsty animals.
So cups, plates and spoons are often trampled underfoot, in the mud!
Skirts are occasionally worn on the elephant’s head, like big colourful fancy hats.
Trousers too are flapped around by the elephant’s trunks, to use as towels to dry their backs or chase clouds of very irritating flies away.
Once the drinking is over mud begins to fly, and the area around the tank and tap becomes muddy.
Elephants are very sensible and use mud-like suntan lotion to protect their skin from the very hot African sun.
The mud is sucked up their trunks and blown over their backs in a dark, muddy, brown spray and sometimes they roll in it, legs waving in the air.
Elephants, when they leave the water tap, have no respect for washing lines.
Often in triumph, they carry them off, as they go on their way, trailing all manner of clothes in the mud and dust behind them.
Leaving very angry humans, to collect their scattered clothing and start another big washing day.
What a wash day!
Glad we don’t have any of those, as it could be very irritating and expensive, but oh what fun!
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo: Pixabay License
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