It was one of those encounters that bring a little unexpected joy to the day. Nothing much… just a shared smile… something I’m missing at the moment. Seeking relief from the heat, I had wandered into the shade of my son’s back garden while I waited for him to finish in the bathroom. Plonking myself in the chair, I realised I was being watched… from about the requisite two metres, of course. Which may seem like a lot when you greet someone, but is not very far when it is all that separates you from a wild bird.
The blackbird showed no inclination to depart. I wondered, from his stillness, if he might be injured… the local cats like to sunbathe in this spot. He seemed bright enough, though, preening and fluffing his feathers, before hopping down from his perch onto a wider stage. He certainly didn’t mind my presence, not even when I was obliged to shout through in answer to my son’s call.
I think he was hot too, as he paraded up and down behind the woodwork, bill open. But he looked rather comical, and, with the constant eye contact, seemed almost as if he was hamming it up for his audience.
It wasn’t much… just a few minutes complicity with a common garden bird… but those moments of shared and willing contact with another species changed the mood of my day from grey to sunshine.
The shining, smiling sun sets
A cosmic switch went from “on” to “off” and the darkness followed.
And so the darkness fell with a crash and a clatter waking up early evening, who was feeling rather drawn out. “Where the hell have you been it’s nine fifteen and I need some rest” Eve Nin complained. Darkness huffed and puffed and looked at his watch, ” I’m not late it mid July and I am bang on time.” He replied. “Well” Eve laughed, “your right about the bang, you made enough noise arriving to wake the dead! ” Darkness and Eve both jumped as a voice from below them screeched, “He bloody did and we are not impressed, we set our alarm for October 1st, and it’s nowhere near that yet.”
Reeling under scorching sun,
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 