Recently my supervisor was invited to speak at the Tourism Management Institute Convention about State Aids, hosted in the New Forest.
After meeting several representatives from tourism bodies, we had some spare time before the presentation. Shamefully, neither of us had visited the New Forest before so thought we would explore the countryside surrounding the hotel venue. An enjoyable breath of fresh air – or so we thought.
I guess the walk started badly as my shoes were not designed with puddles of mud in mind. Worse was to come…
After some walking we encountered an unfenced field of cows to the side of the country lane we had innocently wandered down. My supervisor would argue, as he did at the time, they were ‘bulls’ not cows. What followed was a stare-out between my supervisor and the ‘bulls’ (think black and white western films). To say my supervisor hurriedly retreated when a ‘bull’ took an overly aggressive step forward is an understatement!
I was abandoned to their mercy. Though none of the cows subsequently moved, my supervisor assured me they were not to be trusted. Luckily we both survived and counselling has not been necessary. If anything it made our State Aid discussion much less traumatic, given the ordeal we had already overcome!
