London, It’s Good To Be Back.
First off, London, remind me why I left in the first place? I feel like a whole new pigeon coming back to roost on my roots. For starters, I’m way better connected to the pigeon world just like in the old days. Also turns out Chiswick really is the place to be for the retiring pigeon. Even though I’m a bit of a way off, it’s food for thought for the future. There’s loads to do here, and no need to fly any long distances. Suits me just fine! Wings really don’t carry it like they used to. Know what I mean? Frankly, anything more than an hour and I’m stiff for days. Maybe I should take up yoga? Where’s Olga when you need her?
Another good thing about being back in London is the sheer variety of pigeons. In Brighton the choice was decidedly limited, but here? Jesus.
The sun was out so we went to a new spot yesterday – Chiswick House. Can’t believe I’ve never been there. Only snag is it comes with geese, but then a goose is better than a seagull any day, and I never thought I’d say that.
Anyway, I saw something rather lovely…
Stopped me in my tracks.
Unfortunately, Michael took it upon himself to ‘put in a word’. He meant well, but oh dear.
No reaction whatsoever:
‘See my mate over there? His name’s Bri and he fancies you’, wasn’t quite the introduction I was after.
Then Steve decided to join in and that was it, game over. She legged it:
Can’t say I blame her.
However, not being one to give up, I’ll probably head back there tomorrow, or maybe even today. On my own this time, and certainly not with Michael or Steve.
Hello London!
This is definitely the last move I’m going to make. Totally knackering stuff. We sacked the idea of taking any twigs with us in the end. Couldn’t be arsed. So, after a few trips backwards and forwards from Brighton up and down the dull-as-fuck A23, we finally found us a decent ledge in Chiswick. For a start, it’s an area I know it pretty well even though it was 2006 when we lived here! It’s near to Central London but far enough away for a bit of peace and quiet of a weekend. Perfect in fact, and not a seagull in sight. Plenty of parrots though. Jesus. I thought they only lived in Richmond Park, but they’re bloody everywhere here. Millions of them. Still, sounds like they keep themselves to themselves most of the time. We’ll see.
Loads more outside eateries here now too which is always a good thing on the throwaway front. Soon as we arrived we managed to bag us a half decent slice of organic sourdough pizza. Literally, there it was, a great big piece of it sitting under the table. Not only was it still warm, we had it between the two of us. Mart said it all felt very civilised compared to sniffing around the streets of Brighton hunting for the odd cold chip, and then having to fight over it with a ton of other random birds.
Then I bumped into Doug. Not seen Doug in years! Doug used to be massively into Shakespeare back in the day. I asked him if he still saw Clubfoot Gerry. He said sadly Gerry had returned to being a recluse and was holed up somewhere in Mortlake. I asked him if he still did his Shakespeare recitals, but he said he didn’t really perform much these days due to his memory not being quite what it used to be. He was on good form though. Apparently quite a few old pals from Central London have chosen Chiswick for their retirement. Mainly they hang out here on the railway bridge on Turnham Green Terrace.
Even though I’m not quite ready to retire yet, I’d certainly consider a bit of that one day. Just sitting there thinking about shit and watching the world go by…
That said, talking shit, I’d probably give the place a bit of a clean first.
So – bring it on in W4. Good to be back.
Pigeon Blog 