Monday 16 March 2015

Something to Crow About



After an indolent Sunday in which not much occurred I forced my bundle of lard out on the bike for twenty minutes this morning.  This was not a good idea.  For a start the engine was not happy, indeed it was heavy, lethargic and worse still facing the eastern wind.  Strangely the enthusiasm of the other day had left this engine and the grunting as the speed touched four miles an hour was similar to that heard at women's tennis matches.  Also I met the early morning boys racing to work, some indeed awake but one or two clearly far from it.  Those chaps who have to cover 15 miles before eight o'clock to get into work were not happy to be stuck behind me avoiding the holes in the road, especially as they only had fifteen minutes to cover the ground.  It also did appear that if the women's cycle race does come this way in June then a lot of roadworks will be required.  Lots of drains at the side are two inches deep from the surface, some surfaces are very rough and recent repairs are sinking already.  I suspect more late night overtime for some is coming this way soon.
I survived the main road and turned off down the side streets to avoid the wind and found it there before me.  Quite how it knows where I will be at any one time is interesting.  Also many workers were beginning the day with a Monday morning smile as they backed the car out, walked the dog or shouted at the kids as they prepared for school.  Always a gentleman I allowed them to go first, smiling indulgently as I have none of that stress these days and I was busy dreaming off the breakfast that my weary hulk was desperate for.
Going down the gant (see Gant) as I headed for the teapot I stopped at the noise high above.  These trees, oaks mostly, have for many years, possibly hundreds of years, been home to the crows (or are they Rooks?).  This is a sample of the nests high above with a few of the birds cawing loudly, very loudly if you are trying to sleep in the house at the foot of the trees, cawing and jumping about while preparing for Spring.  In a few months young birds will arrive and spend the day screeching loudly, so loud you can hear them for miles above the traffic!   I wonder if these houses sell well?


Now it's home for a healthy Multiseed bread breakfast with lots of healthy stuff to keep me on the run. The deepening gray sky flowing in from the east indicates life will not offer much fun today and I may well spend more time hurting my eyes on the laptop rather than enjoying the world outside.

Later.
Typical, the gray sky forecast faded away and I could have made more use of the time.  Bah!  Ah well, back to bed to make up for it...

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5 comments:

carol in cairns said...

What? Back to bed ~ it is mid afternoon there isn't it? It is bedtime here!

Jenny Woolf said...

I always really like the sound of rooks cawing in the trees at just about this time of year, early spring. I do not know how I would feel about it if I had it all day though.

the fly in the web said...

We had a rookery when in France....and stopped the local 'hunting' fraternity from shooting up the nests in May just as the young birds were hatching.
We were not popular. I had armed men in my garden threatening to 'have an accident'...
By the time we left all the big trees along the river on our property had rooks' nests - and the noise was indescribable, but worth it to keep the rooks happy.

Adullamite said...

Carol, What, bedtime? OK I'm off to bed!

Jenny, It is good in the distance, not outside your window.

Fly, You know how to win friends and influence people!

Lady Di Tn said...

We only have a few Nevermore birds and I wish to keep it that way. I have 5 seed feeder and 3 suet feeders to entice the beautiful birds to our kitchen window so we can enjoy their meal with them. Peace