Bird Song...

On Blackpool Pleasure Beach, as you may expect from any half decent or even indecent fair ground, their is a ghost train. Guarding it's entrance is a fiberglass recreation of Ghostbusters’ Slimer. The floaty green ghoul thing. What makes this automaton more spectacular than others within the ride, is that nesting within Slimers' mouth is a pigeon. She sits upon four eggs whilst the automaton rocks her back and forth day in, day out, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The park made the decision not to turn the mechanism off as it may cause the pigeon to panic and flee the nest. They are currently seeking further advise. Before mother pigeon knows it her eggs will hatch and her babies will be the ones fleeing. Flee the nest having never known what it is to be still. I would imagine this would have a similar effect upon the pigeons as spinning around really fast after a few too many drinks would have on us. So they will fly away, out of the nest, into the slow rotation of the earth. It feels strange but they are still moving, everything is great, freedom! Then they will perch upon a telephone wire for the first time only to plummet down to the ground with a mixed up head. What the hell is going on? It is best to keep moving. So they do. In constant motion, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They begin to suffer from exhaustion that will probably be followed by emotional trauma, then mental exhaustion, self destruction, a long chain of sexual partners, neglected illegitimate children and too many mouthfuls of those berries mother warned never to eat. After screwing up repeatedly they finally decide, enough is enough (is enough, I can't go on...) and resolve their problem. They return to the fair ground. They perch on a variety of rides. The Big One, The Traumatizer, Valhalla and the inside of Slimer’s mouth.
Over the last few months I had forgotten how it felt to be still. Being still comes with none of the negativity that the pigeons will face. It comes with veg lasagne, salad, mocha, a book and a corner seat in Oklamhoma. It comes with earning enough points on my Waterstones card to buy £9.04 worth of books ("You have enough points to buy this book, would you like to?" "Erm, no thank you I prefer to save them.") It is sitting with friends outside bars. It is the most amazing BLT I have ever eaten. It is finally giving your room a thorough clean. It is a leisurely mooch through thrift stores and finding a perfect summer poncho. It is sitting in the cinema without the pang of guilt. It is being able to relax and be intimate with the one you have neglected. It is taking a deep breath before I have to start moving again.


Over the last few months I had forgotten how it felt to be still. Being still comes with none of the negativity that the pigeons will face. It comes with veg lasagne, salad, mocha, a book and a corner seat in Oklamhoma. It comes with earning enough points on my waterstones card to buy £9.04 worth of books ("You have enough points to buy this book, would you like to?" "Erm, no thank you I prefer to save them.") It is sitting with friends outside bars. It is the most amazing BLT I have ever eaten. It is finally giving your room a thorough clean. It is a lesuirely mooch through thrift stores and finding a perfect summer poncho. It is sitting in the cinema without the pang of guilt. It is being able to relax and be intimate with the one you have neglected. It is taking a deep breath before I have to start moving again.

1 comment:

Lucy Vann said...

mandi i love this and you. and that was an amazing BLT.

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