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Alas my emblem, Savage Gordon, went to the great shed roof in the sky a year and a half ago, it is poignant to see his image again.
My last post was at a time when one of my chicks was heading south, and said chick is now with me in the west, where life is less hectic and exploitative. -
nest changing
Well here I am in Sheffield, helping one of the offspring to migrate to more southern climes. At least three and a half hours more southerly, anyway, as the van rolls (which isn't very fast down the M1). Lovely as it is to be of use to the chicks, the free range hen yearns for the cuddlesome cats of the home hearth. Should all be done in a few days ( Read more... ) -
you can get it if you really want
After three years of trying, I have finally managed to pass the Diploma in Translation exam. Years of living close and personal with the autochtones of the Midi, suffering the indignities heaped upon us by mosquitos, bureaucrats and summer heat have eventually paid off. No more will I have to haul my flight bag full of heavy dicos up and down ( Read more... ) -
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Imagine my surprise when I learned last week that I'm to become a great-grandmother. When I was little, grannies were old and great-grannies were dead! I am (only) sixty, and I thought I'd have a few more years of grannydom before I achieved a further distinction. -
free range parrot!
I had an interesting and even arresting experience last Saturday morning. I was driving up from my place of work, where I had gone to get something while not on shift, and I heard a screeching overhead. Looking up I saw a yellow parakeet flying around between the small trees and telephone wires overhead, perching every so often There was a middle- ( Read more... ) -
clever cat
I remember people used to say that what distinguished humans from other animals was that humans used tools. That notion has been blown away by the observed activities of other primates. I remember our parrot Abu used to pick up fallen pinion feathers and use the sharp end to scratch behind his ear, causing the feathers around his head and neck to ( Read more... ) -
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Struck by how much warmer Exeter is than Sheffield, where I have just been to spend a gruelling day in the exam room. Apparently spring moves at a third of a mile per hour,from south to north, so that would explain it ( Read more... ) -
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I was looking through a resident's paper he'd finished with for a crossword, when another resident strolled into his room. He said, 'Look, there's an interluder.'
I think that must be a cross between an intruder and an interloper.. -
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It's my birthday today, but I still had to go to work. As it happens, I was greeted by one of our residents (I hate the term 'service user')who informed me joyfully that it was her birthday, so I suggested we sing Happy Birthday to Us, which we did. And the usually dreadful cook had managed to make a huge and good birthday cake - not strictly ( Read more... ) -
farewell to the Honda
I shall have to take our faithful, reliable old friend to the knacker's yard tomorrow as it has no chance of passing the almost due MOT, as the body work is too badly corroded. This car has travelled the length and breadth of the country more times than I can count and never, never let us down. It was not a youing car when Sam Tom Sam bought him, ( Read more... )