Tuesday 14 May 2013

Swallows and Spitfires....

It's going to rain tomorrow. I know this because the swallows told me. There I was, drinking a beer on the terrace of a music café, and then they zoomed into view. Three of them.

Swallows are excellent flyers who change speed and direction at almost vertiginous speeds, particularly when they sense rain coming. They are beautiful to watch, so graceful, elegant, playful and delicate. They are my favourite birds.

Anyway, in they came like Spitfires fighting Stukas. Banking and rolling to escape each other, turning on a wingtip and accelerating, ducking and diving, slowing down to be overtaken, spiralling down towards the ground at breakneck speed, shooting up vertically like rockets. A real dogfight.

Except that, unlike warplanes, swallows don't try to shoot each other down. They just love their freedom and like to have fun. No cannons, no bullets, just the joy of living....

3 comments:

  1. They are lovely birds! I love all birds but my favorite is the owl. If the swallows are back, it means that better days are on their way. I know you had a long winter, a cold and wet spring so far, but summer will be really lovely!

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    1. Hello Nadege, and on the subject of owls I have a gruesome confession to make.

      When I was 9-ish we had a den in the woods and we protected it by sticking the body of an owl that we found nearby onto a stake and planting it defiantly outside the entrance. Problem was, we had to get rid of it when it began to decompose. Ah, the things kids do huh..... :)

      That said, it strikes me that owls are a kind of birdly antithesis to swallows. After all, swallows are nervous and almost agitated birds who fly really fast and acrobatically whereas the majestic own is more like a quiet pillar of quiet strength and wisdom... Wotever, I too love birds, all of them.

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    2. Incidentally, on the weather front, it is still not spring here, and the weather forecast says that we are in for 2 months' rain in just 8 days! J'y crois pas b***** !

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