I unearthed this one while fettling by an old stone wall in a quiet part of the garden. It posed very patiently for photos and still didn't move when I'd finished. As a species it is a complete enigma. 'Great crested' comes to mind, which this isn't, and 'Gussie Fink-Nottle', the fish-faced newt fancier. That is it.
Somebody please edify.
Most newts are the Common Newt. We have them living in our pond - and I don't rate the chances of the frog spawn very highly as a consequence! Apart from that, I don't know too much about them. But they do like damp places.
ReplyDeleteOrganicRosie
Thank you Rosie. Had thought that all amphibians were friends!
DeleteAll politicians aside, I love newts. They always seem so docile and ready to lend an open ear. We get lots of them at my parents' house in Vermont.
ReplyDeleteI don't know who your friend is, but a quick search turned up this article which I thought was charming, and the newt pictured did look similar.
What a well-hidden ear that is. Pissed as a newt = wobbly walking? well I never.
DeleteYou woke it up - it's probably pretty lively after dark. I don't move much when somebody roots me out of bed in the middle of the night.
ReplyDeleteWas Gussie Fink-Nottle the one who kept newts?
Especially for a photo-shoot!
DeleteAnd yes, Wodehouse might be implying that newt-fanciers are socially inept. There's more to this than I had realised...
I am as mystified by fettling as I am by newts. They seem to go together but I've no idea what fettling entails. Is it like whittling, and if so, don't you have better things to do?
ReplyDeleteWhittling I believe is sharpening something to a fine point and fettling is tidying up to a point of acceptable neatness so, fancying either of these too much might be on a level socially with newt-fancying.
DeleteBut don't tell me you don't fettle at the weekend, and even in the day job.
Thank you for clarifying "in fine fettle" and "pissed as a newt". One endeavors to keep a healthy balance of the two at the work place.
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