Yes, it's career change time again.
At least - IN MY MIIIND.
It's such a gorgeous morning that I thought I'd walk into work, even though I was only on time for catching the bus, and walking would see me enter mein vorkplace a little tardy. I love the fact that I'm emigrating. It puts a whole new spin on things.
I'm not sure what it is about Hatfield, maybe it is the same everywhere and I've never noticed, but there are always lost pet notices dotted on lampposts and bus stops around the town. They always offer a reward.
This morning, walking down Traveller's Lane, I passed the first of many posters.
LOST!!
Then, heartbreakingly, a picture of an African Grey Parrot, looking endearingly cute perched on the edge of a brass cage with a peanut in its beak - which always gives the set of the beak a curve like a cheeky grin.
Now I can understand the pain of the owners of lost cats and dogs, but there's an extra dimension to the loss of a parrot. If a cat or dog gets lost, then they have reference points - they can retrace their steps, head home. There's always a chance that Tiddles didn't lose his third dimension under an HGV and will in fact stroll nonchalantly in after attending the kitty equivalent of Woodstock in the next town. Cats are like that.
Parrots, for obvious reasons, the rights and wrongs of which I won't go into here, if they manage to get out of a window or a door and fly off...that's something they'll never have done before.
They won't know what the outside of their house looks like, they won't know which house is theirs, hell everything out there is new, scary, and suddenly the world is enormous and this flying lark turns out to be a sight more tiring than it was flitting up from the cage to the curtain rail and blimey the air moves around a fair bit up here, and I can see my house from here! Which one is it? Actually, is a house one of those green things, or the grey pointy-topped things? Ah well, I'm sure it'll all work out. Woah, nope, can't keep this up, wheeeeeeeeeeeee, woah, the wings don't work so well on the way down, man I'm tired all of a sudden waaaaah *flumph* okay, made it down again. Hmm. This isn't carpet.
You see my point.
So I started thinking, as I'm apt to do when I'm walking and air and blood is circulating...what time of day? what was the weather like? Wind direction? Position of the sun? How long since the parrot has it's wings clipped? Does it fly in the house? How tame is it? How old is it? Has it been outside before?
Does it know it's home address?
See? I could totally be a pet detective.
And I'm watching the trees. Happily because of prior experience, I can tell an African Grey from a pigeon at two hundred yards. We shall see.
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