Badger and out....

'Look, I've photographed a badger!', exclaimed my brother breathlessly. Was this code-talk for some sort of fetish that he'd developed in my absence from Australia? Apparantly not.

'A badger?', I couldn't help but sound surprised. There are plenty of badgers around the Surrey Hills, but they are supposed to be nocternal. I was genuinely impressed - until I saw the photograph.

'Is it asleep?', I asked sarcastically. There was not doubt about it...it was a photo of a badger. A badger that had either had a very heavy night on the sauce and passed out in the gutter or....

'No...it was hit by a car', he deadpanned back to me. He could sense that I was unimpressed.

'It was really difficult to take the photograph', he said - a little defensively.

'It doesn't look like it was moving very quickly', I offered.

'No, I know', he paused. 'I just didn't want your neighbours to catch me taking photos of roadkill.....'