Wednesday, October 26, 2005

closely observed pigeons

This lunchtime I went to Bethnal Green and sat in the park. An East End park at lunchtime feels different from a West End or city park at lunchtime. Green spaces in the city, however small, are always full of suits at lunchtime. People escape the office for an hour or so and balance their sandwiches or noodles or vegetarian pasta bake on their laps, enjoying the sunshine or trying to pretend it's not freezing cold. In Bethnal Green, there were several squirrels, various yoof sitting around or playing basketball, one other lunching woman and a small flock of pigeons.

I watched the pigeons fly around the park. From being scattered, they suddenly flew together towards a tree on the far side of the grass. For a while, they jostled about there and then fanned out like policemen doing a finger tip search. A lone pigeon flew back across the park and landed beneath a tree near me. A few minutes later, the entire flock flew across to join him, gathering together for a bit and then fanning out as before. A little later and for no apparent reason, they all flew off again.

Do you think it's fun being a pigeon?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pigeons

Anonymous said...

yes?

Anonymous said...

i was just discovering whether I could comment or not as I didn't use to be able to

Catez said...

Goodness. My mum took me to bethnal Green when I was a litle kid. You've just sent my head back in time. I liked it.
Pigeons?

SkiTheStars said...

I like ducks better.

Anonymous said...

this made my friend smile as she is having a very bad day!

I was very encouraged to find a christian actively living out their faith on a blog! love it! Cambs is ace btw as I'm sure you now know!