Fresh pheasant

There are still a good number of traditional local butcher shops to be found in England.  One Sunday afternoon Steve and I were walking in Reading’s main shopping district, running some errands and just seeing what there was to see.  We saw an old, traditional butcher shop and stopped to look in the window.  We were discussing how the meat keeping rules are very different here (they are much less strict about refrigeration) and remarking about the wide variety of meats available.  Then my eye caught the row of pheasants hanging along the wall.  I pointed them out to Steve – and he said ”oh – those aren’t fresh.”  Then I pointed out the drip-catching sawdust spread on the floor beneath the birds as evidence that the birds were fresh.  He laughed and admitted I was right.