Growing up

The wildlife was amazing today: flocks of goldfinches clustered around the seed feeder; bullfinches returned after a long absence; a fox sniffed around the garden before dusk; a grey squirrel scampered in the grass just inches from my feet. But no creature was willing to pose, except this friendly family of swans.

I left work after lunch, having established that the new timetable starts tomorrow, and that instead of having Hallowe'en we're having Harvest Festival (GRRR! I was raised as a Catholic in Ireland and Scotland, and no-one there ever said Hallowe'en was anti-Christian or anti-Catholic; but on the other hand, they didn't burn a human effigy on bonfire night!) I also commiserated with colleagues that there are EIGHT weeks of this term to go before the Christmas break!

To Tesco's I went next, to buy a pumpkin. Serves me right for not insisting on the farm shop: they had sold out completely, and had no ghostly packs of hallowe'en sweets either. So I bought some Monster Mini Rolls (chocolate covered) that I am hiding from myself at least till Wednesday. We live at the top end of the street, so sometimes we get no guising children. Last year the tiniest boy ever, dressed as Dracula, knocked on my door. I gave him a lollipop, and he looked at it dubiously, and said in a broad Gloucestershire accent, "It's a bit 'ard!"

It was raining quite 'ard as I passed Stratford park, and I saw a line of gulls along the edge of the pond, looking like pensioners on a wet day out. I decided to stop and blip, even though it meant leaving my rucksack and shopping on a sodden bench. To my delight, the resident family of swans and cygnets, who won't be cygnets much longer, came swimming straight over and posed for me. I think they were expecting food, but it can't be good if everyone gives them bread, can it? Do swans in the wild eat bread? Or could I become a mad old lady and start ordering sack loads of seed and popping down to the park after work every day, thereby ignoring the ecosystem and biodiversity of the park?

The camera battery began to complain, and though I had a spare, I walked solidly home, ignoring all further blip temptations, because it was still raining and it's uphill all the way. On a bench near the hospital I saw a gentleman of the road, with all his bags, apparently asleep. I'd seen him five hours earlier in the same place, not apparently having moved at all. I was too chicken to approach him and his can of lager, but was also concerned about his welfare, because he is not usually there in the afternoon and the weather's colder now. We've had a few near- neighbours die in distressing circumstances, so I called the police and asked them to get the Community Officer to do a welfare check on him. I think they thought I was mad to call them, since the guy was not doing anything wrong, merely being, and I still don't know if I did the right thing. At least he is right opposite the
hospital's A&E unit if there is anything that he needs, medically speaking.

Is it coincidence that the next book I have to read for my course is George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London?

I blipped the same cygnets in September. There are three of them in the family, but only two posed for the shot above. The third said he'd have to speak to his agent.