To the family's shock, the animal had stumbled through the cliff edge fence, crashed down through part of the roof extension and was now trapped in a bedroom!
SIR – The Southern Star letters page is mainly for serious Cork, national and international issues like on the long-running debate on the tragic conflict and relationship between Israel and the Palestinian people. but there is may be room for the light-hearted story also – and this is a true one.
Francis Brennan, co-owner of the beautiful Park Hotel, Kenmare, with its many Cork guests over the years, wrote in his lovely book It's the little things, of an unreal experience he heard happen at a family-owned B&B years ago.
Their father had just died. They had received a booking from a couple who planned to arrive the same day as the funeral. The family decided not to cancel it and to lay to rest their much-loved head of the family the same day.
The B&B had been extended to the bottom of a very tall cliff or bank of high ground behind the property. There was a bull who regularly grazed at the top. What could go wrong?
On the morning of the funeral, a huge bang was heard in the B&B, and to the family's shock, the animal had stumbled through the cliff edge fence, crashed down through part of the roof extension and was now trapped in a bedroom. The animal was physically fine and had no injuries. It was probably shocked and not happy.
The indignity of the situation must have made a big impact on him. He was too wide to get out the door. The family collapsed into hysterics of laughter while grieving at the same time. It was a classic duality situation.
There was no time to organise removing the animal and the family laid to rest their much-loved father. Later that evening they put the couple in the only empty bedroom in the B&B. They had a vet sedate the animal, a carpenter take off the door and the sleeping animal carried out.
The moral of the story is to be prepared for anything and to keep calm whatever happens. Easier said than done of course.
Mary Sullivan,
Cork.
