Ornithology for beginners
This morning, following yet another visit to her doctor's surgery, Lady Bracknell bent her steps towards a convenient omnibus stop the better to arrive in time for the rest of the day's appointments.
Whilst awaiting the arrival of the appropriate omnibus, and endeavouring to make civil conversation with a small, elderly gentleman whose diction left something to be desired, Lady Bracknell's gaze was caught by a large, black bird perched in the upper branches of the tree which graced the small cemetery opposite.
Spring now being considerably advanced, the outline of the bird was somewhat obscured by new foliage. Nevertheless, its body approximated in size to that of a crow, although with a much longer tail. In fact, it resembled nothing so much as a peacock rendered in sooty black.
Fascinated by the prospect of a glimpse of a rare visitor to these shores, Lady Bracknell was on the verge of taking a few halting steps down the pavement in the hopes of thereby attaining a less obstructed view when she suddenly realised that the bird in question was, in fact, a bin bag.
Life is full of disappointments.
Whilst awaiting the arrival of the appropriate omnibus, and endeavouring to make civil conversation with a small, elderly gentleman whose diction left something to be desired, Lady Bracknell's gaze was caught by a large, black bird perched in the upper branches of the tree which graced the small cemetery opposite.
Spring now being considerably advanced, the outline of the bird was somewhat obscured by new foliage. Nevertheless, its body approximated in size to that of a crow, although with a much longer tail. In fact, it resembled nothing so much as a peacock rendered in sooty black.
Fascinated by the prospect of a glimpse of a rare visitor to these shores, Lady Bracknell was on the verge of taking a few halting steps down the pavement in the hopes of thereby attaining a less obstructed view when she suddenly realised that the bird in question was, in fact, a bin bag.
Life is full of disappointments.
posted by
Lady Bracknell | Friday, April 28, 2006
3 Comments:
Alas. Does your ladyship enjoy birdwatching?
The birds are singing nonstop over here these days. Just yesterday I sighted a beautiful pair of cardinals and even a woodpecker.
Lady Bracknell could not by an means be described as a "twitcher" - she has neither the binoculars nor the requisite unbecoming anorak - but she was brought up from earliest childhood to take an interest in the natural world.
She is particularly pleased that a grey squirrel appears to have taken up permanent residence in the back garden.
At one point my gentleman friend purchased the domain name orthinology.dom to be set up as a site all about his hobby of word-botching. He's funny like that.
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