The magpie’s mistake

I know some people are not magpie lovers, especially around nesting time when swooping can be a problem, but the few birds who live near me have not been a worry.

They do choir practice outside my bedroom window, albeit a little early some mornings, but their songs are a delight.

I don’t feed them because they tend to show their gratitude by leaving deposits on my pavers, but they watch my every move from their vantage point on my courtyard hedge just in case I relent.

I felt beady eyes on me the other day when I decided to take my lunchtime coffee and sandwich out to enjoy sitting in the sunshine.

I had a quick sip of my delicious coffee and went back inside to retrieve the sandwich.

I paused at the kitchen sink to rinse my hands and looked out to the table where my coffee mug sat, only to see Maggie dipping his beak into the mug!

If a bird can look disgusted, Maggie did it, then departed with a squark and indignant flutter of wings, returning to the hedge position to glare.

I’m sure bird beaks are poked into unsavoury places, so that coffee had to be discarded and fresh  made.

But it wasn’t as nice as the first one.

Funny how that happens. Thanks, Maggie!

Where is this place?

I am intrigued. I hear this often when friends mention ‘Gunnado’. Where is this place that seems to be so filled with potential?

When talking on some topic or other, they’ll say words to the effect, ‘yes, I’m Gunnado.’

Is it some magical land where things happen, a bit like crossing the bridge to Brigadoon. That’s probably where woulda, shoulda and coulda live.

I read an article today that described one such as me as a ‘Novid’.

The word is applied to those who’ve yet to be stricken with COVID, and I’m one of the ‘fortunates’ who has managed to dodge the virus.

Still, it sounds as though I’m a nobody.

No shared experience to discuss with friends, no attempt to outdo one story with one worse.

Not that I’m being flippant, as there have been so many sad outcomes from this relentless scourge.

And I shouldn’t be too complacent, COVID is here to stay, as the medical fraternity tells us, and my turn will come.

Maybe another booster?

Zelda Morris, The Courier’s occasional correspondent