Was walking home today, and for the first time in… too long… it was before 5 p.m… and for the first time in too long, the sun was still up. On the way out, the sky a non-descript 10/10 grey with a hint of bruising around the edges, but daylight, not sodium light, was the rule. And for the first time in… memory fails… I could actually hear birds singing. You don’t really associate London with the sounds of birds singing, but at dawn and dusk a surprising collection of sparrows, pigeons, yellow tits and blackbirds turn out for a bit of a chorus, and if you listen, and the traffic is a few streets away, you can hear, perhaps, the first signs of spring coming. And not a moment too soon.
That said… for all that snatches of birdsong heard when the traffic falls briefly silent cannot fail but to be evocative, the kind of feeling that gets evoked when that damn pigeon that’s decided my window sill is a fascinating place to coo in at 6.30 a.m. every damn morning, is probably best not put down in words.
9 comments
hampshireflyer says:
February 24, 2010 at 10:31 pm (UTC 1 )
When I lived in London I only ever heard birds when I’d stayed up all night. It seemed like one more signifier that I’d held out until a moment on the clock when humans weren’t meant to be around…
NikiI says:
February 25, 2010 at 7:12 am (UTC 1 )
Totally agree! Not a moment too soon and isn’t it glorious when it starts getting lighter.
Roll on spring.
ps. made it, hee hee
AdrianH says:
February 26, 2010 at 12:37 am (UTC 1 )
Noticable out here in the countryside, too, even when we don’t have lots of buildings close by to hold some sort of warmth. Actually had to shed a layer under my Stockman waterproof walking home, it was too warm. Birds are getting territorial, crocuses are popping up, along with the snowdrops, but that faint hint of green hasn’t graced the tree branches yet. Crows and ravens are nesting, though the rain isn’t giving up yet.
Know what you mean about the feathered rat, sorry, pigeon. Perhaps you could fashion a Peregrine Falcon decoy to frighten it away. Or entice a real one along for a take-away…
ARNOLD AKIEN says:
February 28, 2010 at 3:29 pm (UTC 1 )
Up here in the North East of England the sun has taken to heaving itself out of bed before 7am and the Flying Feathered Dinosaur descendent’s begin to make a chirpy nuisance of themselves long before they should.
As for pigeons. Ha ! We have Seagulls the size of hang gliders up here who would Eat a Peregrine Falcon for breakfast and the Seagulls have Told me that my copy of ‘The Midnight Mayor ‘ is on its way! True the bookdepository.co.uk have also told me this ..’ Item status: Dispatched ‘ but the Seagulls told me the news first ..and also muttered something about a .. HAT?
AdrianH says:
February 28, 2010 at 11:19 pm (UTC 1 )
‘Round here the Peregrines usually leave the big seagulls alone as well; too fishy, and they scavange rubbish tips that give them a rank flavour as well.
ARNOLD AKIEN says:
March 2, 2010 at 8:45 pm (UTC 1 )
Indeed ? AdrianH ? You will no doubt be Aware that Big SEAGULL is Now watching YOU ! .. and is Aware that you claim to know what a Seagull Tastes Like?
I wish you well of this Knowledge, given that Enormous Descendent’s of The Dinosaurs are perfectly capable of Crapping Upon YOU from a great Height with Strangely Magical Substances.
In the Mean Time .. and Seagulls and Pigeons are MEAN .. I can announce that my copy of ‘ The Midnight Mayor ‘ did arrive Yesterday and was collected by Me today via the local Postal Depot, after the post -person of yesterday failed to realize that The BOOK was not bound fast with the Elastic Bands of Doom together with that Amazon delivery of the Blu Ray of ‘The Tudors ‘ .. Seasons One and Two .. and a new pin Brush for Shona, who is The Keeshond of The Baskerviles and whoose Pack-leader Karen has just savagely criticized me for many of my ..entirly femininely illusionary faults …SHE was Late And Not ME !!! … prob IT WAS a Female Post Person, for am I not Cute and Lovable? ..and thus SHE would have entirely failed to realize that the delivery would, once separated into its three components, feed through my LARGE letter box.
Back to my Book …which begins in an interestingly Raymond Chandler ish fashion … Confusion Rules … as is Proper.
Arnold.
AdrianH says:
March 3, 2010 at 2:11 am (UTC 1 )
Ha! Sadly, my copy of Midnight Mayor will be a trifle delayed, as it’s winging it’s way across the murky depths of the North Atlantic, hopefully not by means of a large aggressive gull. My fault for wanting a nice hardback copy. Still, all good things come to he who waits. Perhaps it’ll be accompanied by a hat, for deflecting foul-smelling seagull crap…
AdrianH says:
March 3, 2010 at 2:29 pm (UTC 1 )
Oh frabjous day! Those lovely people at Amazon have just informed me my copy of Midnight Mayor has been dispatched. There was a cryptic note about a hat…?
AdrianH says:
March 3, 2010 at 10:23 pm (UTC 1 )
So, anyway, thought I’d check my Amazon order, and it turns out that somehow my order for a hardcover had transmuted into a paperback! How did that happen? I now have a hardcover coming from bookdepository.co.uk. The paperback will be gifted to the person who had my p/b of Madness…
There you go, Kate, two copies to one customer.