Courting - pigeon style

There is a series of photos which goes with this - it tells the story...

The Pigeon Series - with captioned commentary!

Its a tale of unrequited bird love.

Dropped my car off in Warrington this morning at 8.30 to have the brakes done so I had a few hours to kill. Fortunately I had planned for this, so I had all my camera gear with me. After a 25 minute walk into town from the garage I headed straight for Starbucks to warm up.

Gingerbread latte, Keane on the iPod and watching the Italian market tradersfrom the warmth of the inside window seat. closer crop

Went for a wander, got the final bit of Corin's christmas present and walked around the recently refurbished "Golden Gates" shopping centre, which is really quite nice. Spent money on self heating gel packs for my hands and my neck/shoulders - very nice Russian guy did the selling (even got a shoulder massage which was nice, if not short-lived) - his accent was fabulous and he was telling me (because I am nosy and I asked) that he was born in Kazakhstan, then moved to Saudi, learned English in Thailand, Hong Kong, India and Nepal, then moved over here. He was really interesting - should have taken a pic of him but I have not got the brazen confidence needed to say to a complete stranger - "you're interesting, can I take a photo of you to post on the internet!"

Sat outside and took some photos of the pigeons who were very generous with their time and the entertainment provided. Snapped one of the 'improvements' to the town centre - a large sculpture of the The Mad Hatter's tea party.

Was bloody freezing again so went back to Starbucks for my second Gingerbread Latte...Noticed this street trader turn up - he had a mate in tow who went off to find a suitable spot...mum - this guy reminded me of the 'lucky lucky' guys in the Sierra Nevada in the main square!!!

Walking back past Warrington Wolves stadium ...snapped
Brian Bevan's statue then popped into the climbing wall next door to drop christmas cards off and get a cup of tea to warm my hands on.

Car is all fixed, front and back brakes and it wasn't too expensive either especially as the main Mazda dealer did it!

Now off to pop in at my dads and go and pick James up. he's going to be disappointed as we were supposed to be going to London this afternoon, but my brother is poorly, so we've postponed - possibly only till next weekend though.

Too much coffee - have now come down with a massive bump - driving 80 mile round trip is just what I need now!

Have a great weekend everyone!