PARAKEETS

The Monk parakeets that daily delight us with their songs and acrobatics are as welcome to Malaga residents as starlings are to Glaswegians. The Ayunamiento recently ordered many of those nests in the palm trees to be taken down due to fears of overpopulation, crop damage and danger to pedestrians from falling nests.

Which reminds me of a much darker deed; the Malaga Massacre of 1937, when around 5000 civilians were slaughtered fleeing from the city as pro Franco forces attacked. Those who remained in the city were raped, killed and thrown in mass graves, while the corpses of those killed on the road were left to rot. It's hard to imagine this happening here, less than 80 years ago. How fragile is our grip on peace.