The sound of silence

I have a streaming cold, which I decided not to bless my colleagues with, so I am at home on a work day. I think I picked it up at a community meeting hubby and I attended on Sunday morning. There were over 300 people present, and several million germs it would appear.

The meeting was about a proposed motorway (called expressways here) which "may" be heading to our road or intersecting it, or running right over it. This inevitably has us very concerned. No decision will be taken on the route until February 2018, but looking at the topography of our area, it looks like we are slap bang in the middle of two of the options.

So there is a bit of grieving going on in our household, and many hundreds more in the area.

This morning, feeling a bit maudlin, I took myself and my sneezy nose down the driveway with a large mug of tea. Although it was minus 2 overnight, and still with a heavy frost on the lawns, in the sunny patches it was absolutely glorious. I happened to look above me as I ambled down the drive, and saw two very, very large Kereru (native wood pidgeon) sat on the branches of the cherry tree above me. They are glorious birds, larger than the European variety, and wearing an ivory white vest over jewel green wings. When they fly it is with a slow "schlooop schlooop, woosh, thud" kind of flight technique. Avian Harriers they ain't, more Lancaster bomber with engine failure.

It was such a privilege to stand and chat to them both with absolutely NO SOUND at all, save one of the highland cows next door chewing and crunching some grass.

I guess I will need to make the most of these moments.