I want to say something to those few of you who have been reading this, and to those that have come here for the first time, welcome. I have gotten some feedback on some of the things that I have written here, and it appears that I have found a writer’s voice; and the voice is that of an angry, bitter, grumpy man.
That isn’t a proper representation of me, as I am sure that most of you who have spent some time with me would agree. I guess the reason for the bitter sound of the log so far is that I have been using it as a place to vent. Things in the world make me upset, and it is these happenings that make me put pen to paper, finger to keyboard and fist to face. Well, okay I never put fist to face, but you might think that from reading some of the stuff that I have written.
I guess I can rectify some of the bitterness and anger by writing about some of the really nice things that I get to experience by living here. There are some great things that I get to experience on a daily basis. The first thing that I can think of to tell you is about the Swans. I live on the River Thames here in Reading and in this section of the River there are literally hundreds of big white Swans that congregate on the bank of the River, and swim all about it.
The Queen owns all of the Swans. I am not making this up. There is some strange law that declares that all of the Swans in Great Britain are officially owned by the Queen. I hope to God I never witness someone hit one with a car. He’d probably be beheaded.
A Swan is a magnificent creature to behold, but these little shits are aggressive and demanding if they know that you have some food that you want to share with them. They’ll walk right up to you and practically steal it out of your hand. Actually they don’t practically try and steal the food from you, they really would if I hadn’t shown some dominance over them. I had to stomp on the ground to show them that I wasn’t going to stand for their hostility. It worked. They were afraid of me. So, the rest of you had better watch out, because I can intimidate a swan, and of course that is just a precursor to what I could do to a human being. Tread lightly.
One pair of Swans is sitting on their eggs, and soon we get to witness the birth of some baby swans. I’m looking forward to that and I will of source take some pictures for all of you to see. There’s already a family of geese walking about, with the littlest goslings. I am a sucker for a baby animal. The male broadens his wings if he feels that you are getting too close to the nesting female, and makes a grunting noise. I’ll of course have some pictures of that too.
There are more good things to write and I will, but it is late Thursday and I need to catch up on some sleep. Although, I might need to rant the next time I get the keyboard in my hand so there are no promises that it’ll be all fluffy bird stories. Good night, all.