It doesn't look 31cm long, but it was. Well, yesterday my partner in "life", TSO, aka The Significant Otter, found she had "got" Covid. And that means I'm going to get it. I've had two negative tests, but surely I'll get it in the fullness of time. She's a lot more annoyed than me, because she is very sociable and goes to lots of things ... cinemas, keep fit, crossword clubs, friends ( friends ! ). But here's another sad thing. Yesterday I went into our "orchard" and behind the 8-foot mesh fence at the far end of it was a beautiful but dead male Sparrowhawk. After about 136 attempts to reach it and fish it out, I cobbled up a makeshift giant pair of tweezers out of two long sticks and some string and after lots of failures I managed to get it. And what a beautiful bird it was. The aforesaid wife has apparently taken a few snaps of it, but I can't find them on my "device". This could well be because my computer is getting increasingly unreliable ... as am I. I have found the snap now. AS for the bird, I buried it, very sadly. Time for a relevant song I think ... Lass uns verschwinden ( Let us disappear) By the way, I have "got it" now so I've got to keep out of everybody's way for a while. Lucky them.
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Serendipitously, yesterday I dug up a book I bought centuries ago ... on the inside blank page I wrote .... Cromer Summer 1979. The yearly reports cost 7/6d. (Eek !) Memberships were "by invitation" .... and it cost 10s 0d ! ( Ouch!) That "modern" version of it is one of a whole string of editions. Mine has an old-fashioned cover .... I'll see if I can get TSO to photograph it. Judging by the date, I would have been around 30 years old. Ouch ! And, oddly, I've not written anything inside it. At all at all !!!!! The names and addresses for my area's "officials"are in it. Are they still around ? And looking at "my" area, it hasn't changed that much. The hides are far better than now .... there were some right rickety and slippery ones back in the day .... and much smaller as well. So ..... I don't think I'll get the "now" version of it. OK ... music time .... I know I've put it one here fairly recently, but I like it ... We've all been there ... you start reading a book, and you get to page 147 and you think ... I'm fed up with this ... and you give it to the local Oxfam shop ..or chuck it on the fire. And lo and behold, in the i newspaper on what, I think, was World Book Day, they had a list of the top ten books that tend not to get finished. Moby Dick was #3 ... I suspect there might be a few oceanic birds in it. So .... I thought .... what would my list of " books I've never got to the end of" ... Here we go .... only two of them have a lot of birds in them, but nearly all of them will have some ..... BUT I DIDN'T FINISH ANY OF THEM >>TEDIOUS & DULL. [1] La vie mode d'emploi ( far far too long, but quite a few birds get a mention.) ( and it is in French.) [2] Lord of the Rings ( hours of rubbish .... only a few birds) [3] Edwin Drood ( Charles Dickens) Dickens died without finishing it, so I couldn't.... I bet there are birds in it. [4] Wuthering Heights ... boring... boring ... girly stuff. Raptors to be found. [5] Animal Farm ........... rubbish ..and prob birdless too ..a few chickens maybe. [6] Bleak House ...... Dickens again .... far far too rambling and tedious. [7] Les Miserables French .... and miserable ... nuff said. [8] The Hunchback of Notre Dame....... BORING ..and LONG ... a few pigeons. [9] The Great Gatsby .... I gave it up around page 20. Nuff said. American birds ! [10] Ulysses ................... I read the first chapter ..I was about 14 .... and stopped. Here's a top 4 for actual birds books .... I didn't finish them, or wished I hadn't. [1] Wildlife in the Garden ( Roy Genders) ... The worst bird book ever ,,, CRAP. [2] That huge Polish book my sister gave me ... I didn't even start it, because as mentioned above, it is in Polish. [3] The Young Birdwatchers .. A.F.C Hillstead. I didn't finish it, because I felt it was a bit creepy. Mike, who I think was about 13- 14, went to live in a little cottage with one " Mr. Nesbitt" who lived with his sister ( a bit dodgy), because he was recovering from an illness. I didn't like the rather avuncular attitude, and his long " birdwatching" walks with him. [4] Around the World with 1000 birds ..( Russell Boyman) ( dodgy surname that !) Far too long, tiny print, no index, gets very tedious hopping from place to place in endless and rather similar scenarios for seemingly ever. I packed it in at page 164. What would be a relevant spot of music ? Valiente = brave, strong. |
AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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