It was winter, and the snow lay thick on the ground. One clear night, the temperature dropped down well below freezing, and in the early hours, Farmer Giles got up to feed his cows.
Driving his tractor through the fields, he finally came across his cows, only to find them all frozen solid. He turned his tractor around and raced back to the farmhouse, where he told his wife what had happened.
Unruffled, his wife made a phone call and then told her husband that they should go back to the cows. They both got on the tractor and the farmer drove back to where his cows were standing, still frozen stiff.
Presently, a little old lady came up the cows. She reached out her hands to each cow in turn, and no sooner did she touch one of the animals it defrosted and wandered off in the direction of the milking shed. One by one the little old lady touched the cows, until soon they were all ambling across the field.
Once she was done, the old lady wandered off again.
The farmer just stared in disbelief. “Who was that?” he asked of his wife.
“The old lady? Why that was Thora Hird.”
[It’s the only Thora Hird joke I know 😉 – a small tribute to a little old lady. RIP Dame Thora Hird.]