As Geelong struggles through the aftermath of The Great Chicken Catastrophe, a healer emerges.
From the coastal sands and across the Connewarre wetlands she comes, bringing forth good news of local poultry.
And gathering around their saviour, the townsfolk are uplifted.
For their spirit is restored in the light, and the glory, of … Flapper, Ocean Grove’s celebrity resident chook.
Overblown fanfare aside, now’s as good a time as any for Geelong to meet Flapper, who’s actually quite famous down the coast.
A regular in the pages of the Ocean Grove Voice, she’s always out with owner Elaine Janes doing anything from breakfast at cafes to modelling specially knitted Cats jumpers, scratching among Remembrance Day poppies or even swimming – yes, swimming – at the beach.
Named for her furious flapping, this bird’s actually quite unflappable. Elaine can leave Flapper sitting in public only to return 15 minutes later to find her not having moved a feather.
Famous Flapper’s even happy to pose for selfies with curious onlookers, which must surely rank as an unlikely tourist attraction.
So dry your tears, Flapper’s flock. The national gaze may have witnessed our tragedy this week but at least we still have something to crow about!
Meanwhile, heard-hearted social media users somehow saw fit to poke fun at the poor victims of the overturned chicken freighter.
“New specials at the North Geelong take away – the chicken roll,“ one heartless wit posted on Facebook.
“It was feather plucking insane,“ added another.
And so on and so on – until sufficient feathers were ruffled to provoke an online backlash.
“These poor chickens would have suffered,“ pointed out a Facebooker with a heart.
“No matter what, they don’t deserve smart-arse comments.“
Fair enough, too, although it didn’t take long for a realist to identify the shortcoming in the call for compassion in the social media coop.
“Pretty sure the surviving chickens won’t be on Facebook reading these comments, so they should be alright about it,“ he responded.
Now that’s keeping your head – unlike the average chicken, of course.
And to conclude in theme, news that Vicroads is actually considering a memorial plaque for the Overpass 1000 (or more) will surprise few – but it wasn’t the only plaque-related issue raising a squawk this week.
The disappearance of a plaque for the victims of Lara’s 1969 bushfire tragedy also caused a stir.
Reported as the work of “vandals“, local fire fighters expressed outrage at the “mindless act“ as police confirmed an investigation into the apparent theft.
Which was all very justified – and wrong.
Turns out City Hall had removed the plaque for maintenance without thinking to notify anyone. Whoops!
A statement attributed only to a City “spokesperson“ apologised for the confusion, adding that the plaque would be restored soon in a “positive outcome“.
With A-grade spin like that, the chicken disaster could have been portrayed as a “positive outcome“ for the landfill industry!
