Birdsong

Yesterday morning the birdsong woke me early. I was in London.  I’m never woken early by birdsong on the riverbank, the birds here twitter discretely but in London the birds seem to shout. Is it because they have to call louder to be heard over the noise of the traffic and police sirens? Is it because their proximity to Millwall FC’s ground has made them adopt the raucous call of Millwall supporters?  Whatever the reason I am convinced that London birds are a lot noisier than their country cousins.  The river here seems rather bereft of wildlife at the moment.  The mallards are around as usual, a couple of swans sail passed looking hopefully up at the kitchen window and overhead the endlessly fascinating kites hover, but otherwise from a wildlife perspective it is very quiet.  Looking out of the kitchen window of my daughters flat I could see squirrels squirreling in the trees, a fox sunning himself on a shed roof, a brightly coloured jay standing on a fence. A motley collection of birds swooped amongst the trees and across the small park, including a green woodpecker. If you want to see wildlife don’t come to the countryside go to Central London.

I went to work at a painfully trendy web design agency.  The reception area was an over the top décor of plastic hedges, fake grass on the walls and doors, chesterfields, gilt frames and Victorian lamp standards.  The kitchen décor was based on an old pub with distressed wood hiding  very up-to-date equipment. The main wall of the office was expertly painted to show a tank breaking through a wall.  The whole effect was Victorian kitsch meets Syrian war zone.  I was the oldest person there probably by three decades, the music pumped out of loud speakers and I drank endless cups of very strong black coffee. If I looked up from my chair I gazed down the smoking nozzle of the tank.  Full of caffeine and with the beat of the music still resonating in my ears I left and pinged my way down Oxford Street snapping my fingers and tapping my feet.  I actually had a lovely day, the staff were funny and friendly and the place had a lively working atmosphere.  A bit different from the day before when I was working with a roomful of accountants.