There are incidents in life that not only shape your character but shape your future too, often in a profound way.
Recently whilst watching my flock of homing pigeons flying in a cloudless sky apparently for the sheer joy of it, I had a flashback to my youth.
My dad was a keen pigeon fancier and I have fond memories of him and his pigeons on the council estate where we lived.
He lived for his birds and enjoyed the sense of freedom they gave him as he waited for their return from a training flight.
One day he received a letter from the council stating that a neighbour had complained about the pigeons sitting on their roof, the letter went on to say that dad must get rid of his birds or face eviction, the news hit him hard and caused him great heartache.
When I came home from school one day the house was unusually quiet, I went to look for my dad and found the pigeon loft empty, I feared the worst and looked into the dustbin, there was a sack, the bin was full of water I opened the sack and there were all his beloved birds drowned.
Each had a name, each was loved, all were dead, no more blue skies, no more freedom, and no more joy.
Dad was distraught but thanks to the “compassion” of the council we still had a roof over our heads. That was over fifty years ago but petty officialdom and petty neighbours still exist today.
I hope dad is watching his birds through my eyes now as they fly far above the reach of others.
David Otter
The Wind of Change
Did you know that another environmental villain has been spotted by the none so blind brigade, believe it or not it is the old codger in his cottage trying to keep warm on a winter’s night in the glow from a log fire, they have just caught up with him after ten thousand years on the run!
There has been little or no mention of the nine thousand commercial aircraft circling the globe on a daily basis using an average of ten tons of fuel each, every hour of their ominous flights.
I tried to work out the tonnage on my computer but smoke started to come out of it so I did the right thing and turned it off.
It seems odd that few people have twigged that it is more important to keep warm than show their half naked backsides by a pool in Benidorm.
The none so blinds are also suggesting we cut down on meat and eat more veg so as not to add the anal gases of cows to the toxic mix polluting the earth, so it’s good bye burger hello the blame game.
Maybe some bright spark (forgive the pun) will invent a method of trapping our own gasses in order to keep warm as the cure for the world’s ills.
I can see people fleeing venues like theatres and restaurants as human flatulence takes over where cows left off.
I made a New Year resolution or two and one is not to freeze to death as a favour to Thomas Cook.