I just happened to find myself (again) behind one of the shepherds and his sheep when I was out with Bob this morning. And remarkably I had my camera. I am uncomfortable about taking pics of normal people doing normal things so I tried to take a pic with my camera in the pockets of my shorts, which entailed rather a lot of ingenuity on my behalf. Sadly, my gyrations probably caused a lot more comment than if I had just whipped out my camera and taken the pic.
Anyway – the purpose behind the pic is, for me, to show a pretty good life. He is heading off into the campo for day sitting under trees and keeping his eye on his sheep, in his back pack I bet he has a flask of wine (one of the traditional leather flasks) and some bread and meat.
Shepherds actually keep a pet sheep – do you remember the pic we took last year of the man and his lamb? Well that lamb is kept as a pet and when it grows up it follows the shepherd – and sheep being sheep the rest of the herd follow the pet sheep. Ian has actually seen a shepherd with a lamb in the house. And to think they think we are strange for keeping dogs in the house…!