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Ben and I went on another pigeon patrol to the Harriet Street flock today which has become a somewhat regular activity. A gull turned up and ate some of the sunflower seeds. He must have been hungry as I’ve never seen a gull show interest in sunflower seeds before. Admittedly there were a few calciworms in the mix so perhaps that’s what piqued his interest. A nearby crow also appeared obviously thinking that if a gull is interested, there must be something good.

The birds all looked healthy so we were about to up and leave when a second flock flew in to join the buffet and we spotted a bad case of string foot. They were all so close and eating out of my hand by this point so I thought I may as well try to help this bird as it seemed an easy catch and it was.

We caught the poor thing and began work to remove the thread. It was some kind of very fine nylon and was already severely constricting the blood flow. He would almost certainly have lost the toe without intervention.

It took longer to remove because it was so deep but we couldn’t have done it without a stitch unpicker. Scissors alone would have been insufficient.

I’m pleased to say we managed to remove it all then sprayed a bit of disinfectant on his foot before letting him fly off.

The toe is still pink so there’ll be no lasting damage. I hope he feels better.

Last Friday I was wandering around Aberdeen city centre checking out venues for the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention as I’m a volunteer lead organising the busking trails for the event. One of the venues we booked are the Victorian toilets beneath Union Street. They’re obviously no longer toilets and indeed smell a lot nicer than they once did but all the original tiles are still in place and it’s a very cool space.

These are the original urinals, made from marble with glazed green tiles on the wall and terrazzo mosaic tiles on the floor. There are sinks off to the left which you can’t see in my photo. They don’t make toilets like this today.

The Wild Goose Café just above the toilets manages the space and holds regular events there.

While I was wandering about I visited the flock of pigeons on Harriet Street. I saw one with a tangled foot and happened to have my net with me so tried to catch it. Amazingly I caught two pigeons at the same time in the net but in my clumsy stupidity I accidentally let the tangled one out while releasing the one I didn’t mean to catch. Rookie mistake. I felt bad about it all Friday and Saturday so Ben and I returned today.

This time I was successful but not in catching the one I spotted on Friday; instead I caught a different one that was not only tangled but his legs were actually tied together. I don’t know how it ends up wrapped around their toes so many times like this.

I’m really happy about this one as the string wasn’t so tight yet that it had cut off the blood supply but it would have become tighter over time with the pulling from each leg so I feel we made a big difference for this pigeon as he felt young and strong – there was quite a bit of struggle from him in my hands – and now he’s completely string-free, has all his toes and a long pigeon life ahead of him.

Ben recorded some video.

Beneath the centre of Aberdeen runs an ancient stream, the Denburn, which once provided water and food to mesolithic settlements. It runs through the Denburn valley which was carved out during the last ice age and starts from Kingswells, about 5 miles west of the city centre. In the city centre the stream is now buried beneath train tracks and the road you can see in this next photo but it continues to move underground down to Aberdeen Harbour where it joins the sea.

The Victorians buried it in a culvert – a brick tunnel – in the late 1800s to build the railway line. They built culverts all over the country usually for one of two reasons: either to build something on top or to entomb the stench of sewage. In this case they wanted to build the railway line and a new train station. The stream was very likely polluted too as it was widely used for linen bleaching and there are reports it was already filthy as far back as the 1600s due to human activity.

Here’s the Denburn during construction of the culvert. Photo from https://doriccolumns.wordpress.com/water-supply/medieval-water-supply/denburn/

And here’s the open waterway before it disappeared underground. Photo from https://www.aberdeenlive.news/news/history/how-denburn-valley-aberdeen-changed-8758610

I do feel sad that we’ve lost this natural waterway in our city centre. I hope one day humans will dig it up and return it to its former glory. I can’t see it happening in my lifetime but maybe in a century. It has been done in other places like the Chronggyecheon Stream restoration project in South Korea. What an eyesore this was.

And now they have this.

I dream that one day Aberdeen may restore the Denburn too.

At least we still have the Dee and the Don. I took this photo of the River Dee on a bike ride today. That’s the Bridge of Dee in the distance, built in 1527.

I had the day off work today so I went litter-picking in Torry. I spent most of this time by Victoria bridge where the riverside walking path starts. I have been eyeing the litter here for a little while and had it in my sights to return with a bag and picker. It was hard going because there were hundreds of cigarette butts which were painfully difficult and time-consuming to pick up. Big pieces of litter like crisp packets and bottles are quick and easy; it’s the small things that take time. I felt like I was getting RSI by the end.

I filled a whole black bag while listening to history channels on YouTube so it was very entertaining and overall a pleasant way to spend a few hours.

As I left I noticed the other side of the road completely overflowing with litter so I’ll return next time to tackle that.

Our family are huge fans of the 1970s British sitcom, Fawlty Towers. We’ve got the whole series on DVD and have all watched it from start to finish several times. We therefore couldn’t resist the Faulty Towers dining experience which is touring the country and in Aberdeen this weekend. The spelling is deliberately wrong (Faulty instead of Fawlty) for legal and copyright reasons.

We got tickets for Sunday lunch at The Palm Court Hotel and were waited on by Basil, Sybil and Manuel. The whole experience was superb: incredibly funny and very true to the TV series. There was slap-stick comedy with Basil pounding Manuel’s head into the wall on several occasions, misunderstandings with Manuel not understanding English instructions with hilarious consequences, Basil telling porkies to Sybil and even the famous rat makes an appearance. Manuel smashes plates, throws the bread rolls, sings on the table and is just generally hilarious. Basil is typically rude and impatient and indeed I thought the actor mastered John Cleese’s mannerisms perfectly while Sybil is calm but severe.

The food was also surprisingly good. Regular readers will know how fussy I am these days and we rarely eat out as a result but Palm Court exceeded my expectations. It wasn’t perfect – the bread rolls were white and I must rant about this now so feel free to skip to the next paragraph. Why, in an age of obesity and chronic bowel issues are humans eating white bread? It’s such an easy switch to eat wholemeal with untold health benefits and it even tastes nicer. The white stuff isn’t really food. You don’t even have to chew it. Just wet it with saliva and it disintegrates in your mouth – no chewing required. It’s basically just sugar.

But the bread aside, the starter was a very nice tomato soup, not salty thankfully, although a couple of patrons found the chef’s dentures in their soup. I believe Sybil got them replacements. The main was a vegetable lasagne which was also quite nice and served with a green salad.

Manuel went round at the start unfolding people’s serviettes and putting them on their head or round their necks. He did Ben and I took this just after.

We were tucked away in a far corner of the room but the actors did a really good job of making sure everyone was included.

It was a fun experience. If they’re coming your way I recommend it, especially if you’re a fan of Fawlty Towers.

Afterwards we went for a walk round Johnston’s Gardens which was not far. I’ve always known about this garden but we’ve never been because it’s quite small and not really walk-worthy, at least not for our family who prefer longer walks. But it was just right on this occasion for after the meal and before heading home.

We’re lucky where we live to have longer walks including this one through Allenvale Cemetery which looks spectacular just now. I took these photos on Friday.

The English-speaking world has largely missed out on the story of Timmy the humpback whale. I’ve been having to follow German twitter updates to get news. English media picked up on the privately-funded rescue mission but it was not widely reported and most people know nothing about it.

Last month Timmy was spotted in the Baltic Sea which is not normally a route for humpback whales. They think he got tangled in netting and lost his way. He eventually stranded on a beach and after repeated attempts to refloat followed by stranding the authorities decided to give up on him and let nature take its course. In other words, leave him to die.

Two multi-millionaires stepped in and with the support of marine experts from around the world they orchestrated an ambitious rescue mission that has never been done before. They flooded a barge, got Timmy to swim onto it, then with the Fortuna B tug boat pulled him all the way to the North Sea. He swam off the barge just over an hour ago and is now free and on his way.

There’s good video footage in the clip below of him swimming onto the barge amidst much jubilation.

He was in poor condition during the strandings as the Baltic Sea is very low in salt which has caused skin damage. Plus he was malnourished and dehydrated but they fed him during transport and from what I read he perked up a bit.

There was much debate in Germany about what to do, if anything, for Timmy with many, including environmental groups arguing to do nothing. A German media outlet, News5Live, was live-streaming drone footage for the journey to the north sea but there’s nothing that I’ve seen so far of him swimming off the barge. I think that must have been tricky as Timmy was 12m long on a 10m wide boat. He’d have had to reverse out. Hopefully there’ll be some footage of that eventually. He’s been tracked too so we should hear something of his movements in due course.

Updates available in the Bild.

Ben and I went pigeon de-stringing today but didn’t have any success. There were four birds hanging around Burger King but it was clear they knew me and stayed well away even when I put out sunflower seeds. I’ll have to wear a different outfit next time.

Yesterday we spent a couple of hours tidying up the allotment. It’s not looking too bad so I’m hoping to have escaped a letter from the council this year.

The cherry blossoms are out in full bloom just now. Ben and Elizabeth went to the nearby cemetery today and got some photos.

I’ve been learning to tap dance for a couple of years now and fulfilling my childhood dream. I’m the old lady in a class of 20-somethings and I definitely feel it. I’m the worst and take longer than everyone else to pick up steps so I have to practice everyday at home to keep up but I still love it and would welcome more than just one class per week. My dance school is putting on a show in July and I’m a bit worried about it as I don’t want to let my classmates down. At first I thought I’d hide in the back corner but my teacher has us all moving around the stage and somehow I’m centre front for the first chorus.

Being the oldest in my dance class, the slowest and somehow getting to take part in a dance show has made me more self-conscious of my grey hair. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy to have my natural hair colour now and don’t want to go back but I wondered about jazzing it up or youth-i-fying it for the show without making any permanent changes. I bought a semi-permanent red colour and tested it just on a piece and it worked pretty well.

It washes out in 13 washes apparently. This lets me keep my grey while hiding the most pronounced bits at the sides. Does it make me look cool or am I just another old lady trying to look young?

I went to Union Square to get a few things yesterday but did not plan to attempt any pigeon destringing as my trusty helper Ben couldn’t come, so I left the net at home. However, I still investigated the pigeon situation to see who was there and immediately saw two birds foraging on the ground, both with stringfoot.

One of the birds was in a bad way – limping, unpreened and generally dishevelled – so I focused on him and miraculously managed to catch him with my bare hands. This is the first time I have ever done that. I have figured out a technique now but I think I was also helped by this poor bird’s ill health or age as his reflexes weren’t as quick as the other birds I’ve tried to catch.

After catching him I was a bit stuck as I hadn’t taken a cloth to wrap the bird in although I did have my destringing kit. A kind lady sitting nearby offered to help and while I was holding the bird she cut away the string. The poor animal was missing several toes already and there were previous signs of constriction on one foot. We removed the remaining string and let him go. He flew off but I wondered if I should have taken him home for a couple of weeks of rest and recovery as his lower tail feathers were covered in excrement which is unusual for pigeons as they’re very good about keeping themselves clean. He had obviously been suffering. I hope he’ll manage ok. I didn’t get any photos unfortunately as I was by myself and didn’t want to subject the pigeon to me fumbling around trying to take a photo with one hand.

In other news Elizabeth has created a trailer for her game, The Cat Dimension. She created the game over 6 months for an A-level EPQ project and it’s very challenging to play particularly for the 50+ age group. I’ve not been able to finish it so I enjoyed watching the trailer as it showed me bits of the game I hadn’t seen. She built it with Unity in C# and drew all the graphics herself. The music in the trailer is from Silksong.

This week I made scrambled tofu – think scrambled eggs but with tofu. It worked splendidly. I put some chives and wild garlic from the garden into it plus some turmeric but you could put anything you would normally mix into scrambled eggs. I also added oat milk.

Mash up the tofu first then mix in the extras and fry it.

I put it on a slice of freshly baked sourdough bread with mushrooms, kale and tomatoes.

Yum!

Today I spent a couple of hours picking up litter in Torry. We walk there every Friday evening for Elizabeth’s musical theatre class and I was horrified by all the litter I saw there last night so went back today to clean some of it up. I feel as though I barely scratched the surface so I’ll make it a regular activity. But I did clean up this little patch on Walker Place. Here’s before and after.

Torry is an underprivileged area in Aberdeen and the litter problem is particularly bad there. Are people who live in poor areas more likely to litter or is it that there are fewer litter-pickers living there? I think when you are down and out in life or struggling perhaps litter is not something you worry or even think about. What can we do to turn the situation around?

Litter attracts more litter. When a place looks neglected and unkempt then people think it is socially acceptable to litter. There is a train of thought called the broken windows theory which says that visible broken windows, litter and graffiti create an environment that attracts more anti-social behaviour. Start by fixing the little problems and the bigger problems are less likely to follow.

I managed to get Elizabeth to the hair dresser today for the second time in her life. She’s not interested in clothes, hair, makeup or other teenage girl things – thank goodness! – but her hair was getting very long and difficult to manage. She’s got beautiful thick, wavy hair and it’s looking particularly fine after a cut.

The cat has decided that since we’re not getting any visitors in the near future, she’ll take over the spare bedroom, thank you very much.

When our kids were in primary school I tried very hard but failed miserably to make their school playground look less like a prison and more like a play area for children. There was immense resistance from the teaching staff at the time that I still don’t understand to this day but I remember it caused me a lot of grief and stress. One reason the school gave against making changes to the playground was that play equipment would make it impossible for a fire appliance to get into the grounds but when I asked someone from the fire service about it they said an appliance wouldn’t fit through the gates and they’d instead work from the street. Here’s a photo of the playground back in 2016 when our kids were there.

Fast forward to now and it seems a teacher at the school has managed to spear-head a campaign centred around the importance of play and not only is the school getting a whole new playground but they’ve demolished the ugly tunnel you can see in the left of the photo (this was something I suggested back in 2016) and also a building that you can’t see that connects to the other end of the tunnel. I’ve seen the plans and they are way more ambitious and impressive than I could ever have imagined back in 2016; I’m so glad that my hopes for the playground never came to fruition because what’s happening now is far more transformative. We walk past regularly and have been eagerly watching the demolition and transformation. You can see in this next photo the ugly tunnel is gone. I always thought it looked like a cancerous growth.

This is the building that got demolished at the other end of the tunnel. It was not built at the same time as the original school which is Victorian and will remain in all its glory thankfully. This building was called the annex and was built in 1935. It wasn’t particularly attractive so I don’t think anyone will object now it’s gone.

A new extension for the Victorian building has started to take shape.

I’ll post photos of it once it’s finished.

And lastly, Bertie visited us again last night.

Earlier this week I woke up to find my wildlife camera not in its usual spot. It was several metres away and I was delighted to see in the footage that Bertie the badger had tried to take off with it! Here’s footage of the night’s visitors starting with a wee mouse. The theft starts at around 1:50 in if you don’t want to watch it all.

Nothing can compete with that and I fear I will be disappointed by the night’s events from now on unless the fox and badger do a tango or a hedgehog appears.

Bertie made another appearance the following day and just had a drink.

Daniel was home this week for a mid-term teaching break. We all enjoy having him back but Elizabeth especially misses him and loves having him home. We all got to enjoy the hot tub together. Ben got out to take the photo.

Daniel is nearing the end of his first year at university and has loved every minute of it.

It’s starting to heat up in the glasshouse on sunny days. It was 25C in there yesterday so I planted some of my tomatoes as they were getting too big for their little pots inside. Hopefully we won’t get another dumping of snow or they’ll probably die.

Last night I tried making vegan tofu salmon as I was inspired by an online video I saw on Facebook. However I took my recipe one step further and cooked it in omega 3 oil from marine algae. Salmon do not make omega 3 themselves. They get it by eating marine algae which is what gives the fish a fishy smell and flavour. If you’ve ever taken marine algae supplements the taste is exactly the same. Indeed farmed salmon are fed omega 3 supplements derived from algae oil. I used this stuff:

The beetroot juice gave the tofu a pink colour and the omega 3 oil gave it a fishy smell. The nori is a nice touch that acts like the skin.

I served it with a squeeze of lemon and some fresh dill along with purple potatoes and broccoli. It was delicious and healthy: high in protein, fibre, and good fats.

I managed to catch another pigeon at Union Square today. It wasn’t the one with his legs tied together unfortunately: I haven’t seen this one for a while now. But the one I caught only had three toes left so I’m glad we removed the string so he doesn’t lose the remainder.

Ben was there again to help with the actual removing of the string. I honestly couldn’t do it alone as I needed two hands to hold the bird.

Ben took these photos after destringing and just before we let him go again. It was very quick and I don’t think it was particularly traumatic for the bird.

If you cover their heads with a bit of fabric they tend to relax a bit. I forgot to bring a towel so had to use my scarf.

Here are his little feet after removing the string. You can see only one toe left on one foot and two toes on the other. They should have three toes on each foot.

He flew off back to his mates when I let him go.

Lately I’ve been making a tofu fry-up for lunch, sometimes breakfast. It’s absolutely delicious so let me share the recipe.

It’s very simple. Here are the raw ingredients: tofu, spring onion, tomatoes, kale, mushrooms, hummus, pepper, and olive oil.

I basically just bung everything in they frying pan with a generous dose of olive oil and pepper then fry.

Eventually it looks like this:

I bake my own sourdough bread which is 100% organic wholemeal flour. This loaf also has nigella seeds which give it a lovely aroma.

I cut two slices of the bread.

I then smear my homemade hummus all over it. The hummus is made with chickpeas, tahini and lemon – that’s it. I don’t use the store-bought stuff because it’s full of salt.

Lastly I dump the tofu fry-up on top. Bon appetite!

I’m organising the annual litter pick for Aberdeen Cycle Forum which is next Sunday and today I went out for a reconnaissance to find a suitable spot. There’s not usually any shortage of places to pick up litter in Aberdeen – humans are a filthy species. I decided to take my own picker and a bag with me as I’ve made it a habit to pick up litter on a regular basis rather than just once a year.

I filled up this whole back from from this garden next to Riverside Drive.

I disposed of the rubbish then walked on to Union Square but there was so much more litter further down Riverside Drive that I tried to collect what I could just with the picker and my other hand (I had already disposed of the bag by this point as it was full and heavy). A motorist pulled over in front of me, a man jumped out and asked if I wanted a bag? I said yes please and managed to fill a second bag. The kind man said he had collected a bag of litter with his daughter yesterday in a very short period of time. I managed to do the same with his bag. It was windy today which always makes the litter situation worse as it gets blown all over the place. I was very happy to get all this off the streets. Imagine if everyone picked up one piece of litter each time they left their house? We’d have such clean cities.

A very satisfying day!

Next Sunday 12th April is our planned litter pick event starting 1pm on Riverside Drive just opposite the service station. Everyone is welcome so please come along if you’re free. We’ll provide all the litter pickers and bags.

It’s a tradition every year in our house for Ben to make hot cross buns on Good Friday. Today’s batch didn’t turn out so well. They’re hot cross focaccias rather than buns. He’s thinks the yeast may have been faulty. This year I tried making some sourdough hot cross buns and they turned out a little better than Ben’s but Ben’s probably tasted nicer as he put butter and sugar in his which I omitted from mine. My four buns are on the right next to the tray of “pancakes”.

We went out for dinner to Wagamama tonight to celebrate Elizabeth handing in her 20,000 word EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) report which is worth half an A-level. She has spent the last 6 months on it: creating the game then writing the report; it was a huge amount of work and a great deal of stress. Ben read it just before she handed it in and he said it’s better than some 4th year honours projects he’s read so I hope she gets a good mark for it. She’s so happy to have it done and dusted although it’s not quite finished as she still needs to give a presentation after the Easter holidays but that’s easy compared to everything else.

It’s nice that Wagamama offer brown rice with their dishes. I saw lots of rice dishes going to other customers but they all contained white rice which I find surprising. I asked Vlad, our waiter, if we’re the only ones to get brown rice and he replied that he always has the brown rice because it’s lower in sugar and higher in fibre. There’s hope for our young people yet! And Vlad looked a very healthy lad who works out.

I can’t be bothered extolling the virtues of fibre any more. People obviously don’t realise the importance which is why we have a largely sick and overweight population. And no, one apple a day is not going to give you sufficient fibre.

We buried our hamster Angelina yesterday. Her death came as a surprise. I honestly thought Lucille would die first. I’m not sure how old Angelina was as we rescued her a year ago but until this week she seemed pretty well. However prey animals are good at hiding illness. She died peacefully in her sleep. I knew she was dead when I woke up and found the broccoli and strawberry I’d put out for her the night before still there. Angelina was a lovely, gentle little thing. We will miss you. Sleep well, little Angelina.

I don’t think Lucille will be with us for much longer. She’s over two now and already had a near death experience when she had a tumour removed 18 months ago. She still runs on her wheel but she looks more arthritic and not as fast as she once was. I thought about moving her to Angelina’s old cage which is bigger but then I decided that as an elderly hamster who’s not as agile any more she probably prefers the familiarity of her current home and the ease of getting around that it affords.

We all felt the need for a walk in the countryside after the sad events of the morning so we spent the afternoon wandering around the grounds of Crathes Castle.

This is the dovecote in the castle garden.

The roosting holes are blocked up now so pigeons can’t fly in but this is what they were originally built and used for – to house pigeons.

Aside from these gorgeous highland cows I was surprised by how little wildlife we saw. I expected to see lots of birds in the castle gardens but I didn’t see a single one. I’m so used to our zoo of a backyard and I expected someone rural to have more wildlife than we do in the centre of town but that was not the case.

As we were driving home we passed a squashed oystercatcher on Great Southern Road on the south side of the river. I hate when people run over animals and leave them to get flattened over and over like a pancake. So I walked back to prise if off the road and lay it in some nearby vegetation. The bird was still warm. If you kill an animal with your vehicle it’s your responsibility to remove it from the road. I realise it might not be safe to do this on a motorway but this was not a motorway and there were plenty of places nearby to stop. To the person who did that to this oystercatcher yesterday: I hate you and you’re a bastard. On the plus side it was quite a nice walk across the river as all the daffodils are out and there are a lot of them. This is Great Southern Road, Aberdeen just before the bridge.

Elizabeth has created another game to add to her portfolio. This one is called The Cat Dimension and was inspired by Victoria our cat who features in the game. She did this for her EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) for school and it’s worth half an A-level. She started work on it last September and will hand in the game and report at the end of this week with a presentation due in April.

It has been a mammoth undertaking. They say students should spend about 120 hours on the EPQ but I think Elizabeth has spent a lot more than this. It was her choice to create a game which in hindsight was very ambitious. One of her favourite games – Silk Song – was 7 years in the making. For a 16-year-old with only 6 months and on her own she did amazingly well. She coded it with C# in Unity and drew all the graphics herself on a tablet. She is very anti-AI so did not use it for anything.

For her report she has to gather feedback from users so please give her game a try. You can download it at – https://elizabethhhhhh.itch.io/the-cat-dimension -and there’s a form to complete for feedback.

I am not going to lie: it is a very difficult game but maybe that’s because I’m 50. Perhaps teenagers will find it less challenging than I did.

In other news I finished my one month of no sugar. I’m not sure where I’ll go now but I’ll allow myself celebratory treats every now and again and I’ll also allow dried fruit in moderation. But everything else about the change I’d like to retain as much as possible as I think it’s doable. I found a very yummy 100% dark chocolate with almonds and another with orange that satisfy my chocolate cravings.

On Friday night we had purple potatoes with a yummy roasted cauliflower and bean dish in a peanut sauce. Purple potatoes don’t taste very different to white ones but are meant to be better for you. I will definitely get them again.

It has been a frustrating weekend of attempted pigeon rescue again but with no luck. Ben and I went to the shopping mall yesterday and today. We only met one pigeon: a very tough and wary fellow I’ve named Stumpy because he’s missing a foot. He looks like he’s been around the block a few times and was too fast and clever for me. There was string wrapped about both legs so I’d love to help him but he’s too wary. I watched him deliberately fly into the mall through the door then go straight for Muffin Break, clean up all the crumbs off the floor before taking off again. He knew exactly what he was doing, how to get in and out, and where to go for the good pickings. I guess that’s how you survive in a tough world if you’re born a pigeon.

We went to Union Street also to see if there were any pigeons needing string removed there but they all looked pretty good and even ate from my hand. This flock is less wary. I think someone else must feed them. And yes, the old lady with the grey hair is me! This is what happens when you reach 50 and don’t dye your hair. I call it the badger look.

And here’s a lovely little robin I caught on the bird camera.

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been trying to catch some pigeons with stringfoot at a local shopping centre. Stringfoot is a common affliction among urban pigeons where thread gets tightly tangled around their toes, cutting off the blood supply and eventually the birds loses a toe or sometimes the whole foot. It must be very painful.

Until today the score was pigeon 5; Rachel 0. Today I scored a point and finally caught one. It wasn’t the one with its legs tied together but still a serious case as the thread was so tightly wound it was difficult to remove. Ben helped and indeed he did most of the work. I caught the pigeon and held it while he did the surgery as I had forgotten to take my reading glasses – I keep forgetting I’m 50.

Here’s the foot when we first caught her.

It took a surprisingly long time to remove all of that but here’s the finished result. This bird was otherwise healthy and we released her outside as a cleaner told me the mall employs someone who comes at night and shoots them. How awful.

And here she is when we first let her go. She was a bit disoriented at first but quickly flew off. Stay safe little one!

One of my favourite musicals growing up was Top Hat with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. I watched it countless times as we had it on video at home. Yes, you heard me–not DVD but video. That’s how old I am. I loved it so much as a child that I recorded the songs from my television set while the movie was playing by holding a cassette recorder up to the speakers. The sound quality was awful but this was long before music streaming services and at least I could play the songs over and over which I did.

I longed to tap dance and would make comical attempts at it but of course unless you have someone teach you how you can’t pick up tap dancing from watching a musical. Now as an adult I’ve been fortunate enough to get lessons and while I’ll never be an Eleanor Powell I can now do a time step, a Shirley Temple, pull backs and ripples. I’m proud just to know what those words mean.

Naturally when I saw Top Hat was coming to Aberdeen I bought tickets and we saw it today.

I loved every minute of it. It was true to the original film – the story, the dialogue, even the dance choreography and outfits worn by Dale Tremont very closely followed the original. There were a few additional numbers with solos for Madge and Beddini but these added to the show. The characters adopted many of the mannerisms of the original cast with Horace Hardwick perfectly portrayed as the bumbling husband, Bates as the eccentric manservant, and Beddini as the flamboyant Italian. Indeed I would almost go so far as to say the Beddini today improved on the original. He was excellent. It was very funny too with a classic mistaken identity storyline and punchy dialogue. And of course all these alongside Irving Berlin’s timeless songs. I had to refrain from singing along as that would have annoyed the people sitting near us but I couldn’t stop myself from mouthing the words.

Today was the last day for the show in Aberdeen, sadly. If it comes to you then I absolutely recommend it. I believe they’re heading to Norwich, Salford and Southampton next.

The gull we tried to save this week was euthanised by the vet on Tuesday. I haven’t felt like writing about it as I still feel upset. The surgery was never performed and so I refunded everyone who donated to the fundraiser because that money was meant to pay for surgery to fix Piper’s broken leg which didn’t happen. It felt dishonest to take it.

Instead the vet took an x-ray (this vet had not seen the bird before) and found another fracture of her coracoid bone which meant she would be unlikely to fly again so he ended her life.

Are we too quick to euthanise animals with disabilities? We know that humans with disabilities can live long and fulfilling lives. Why is it different for non-human animals?

I follow a couple of sanctuaries for disabled animals on social media. One is Mert’s gull sanctuary in Turkey.

There is also one in Thailand for disabled dogs that you can follow on Instagram. The photo for this post is one of Sybille’s dogs who was shot and left with a broken spine. How can anyone look at that dog’s face and not see joy and a desire to live.

The prevailing attitude in the UK is if it’s decided a wild bird will never fly again they end its life. We are told it is the kindest option and in the animal’s best interest. Is it really? It is certainly the cheapest and easiest option. A disabled animal will require life-long care with appropriate adaptations to support the disability such as ramps or mobility assistance. This is not cheap or easy. But Mert and Sybille’s examples show it can be done. This is not to say that I don’t consider euthanasia appropriate in some cases like where there’s intractable pain. But broken bones heal. It shouldn’t be a death sentence.

Another reason may be people’s attitudes to disability. Until recently we hid disabled humans out of sight in asylums. People found it confrontational and sometimes disturbing to see disability. Some regarded it as the stain of sin from God’s displeasure. In Victorian times they were treated as “freak” shows. There was also fear of contagion. But perhaps worst of all are the “ugly laws” in the United States from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries that banned people with disabilities from public spaces. Thankfully times have changed but I wonder whether some people still have lingering dated views of disability.

A big part of my job is web accessibility and making our products accessible for everyone. I work with people who have disabilities to better understand what we need to do for accessibility and they don’t view themselves any differently to the rest of us. They don’t feel sorry for themselves or feel they’re missing out or have lower quality of life. They’re just normal humans going about their lives like everyone else.

You could say it’s different for a human who develops a disability later in life as opposed to being born with one as they will have knowledge about what they have lost and what might have been. But this is less likely to apply to non-human animals who live in the present more than we do and who don’t have the same concept of past and future.

A bird that cannot fly can still display natural behaviours such as preening and bathing, foraging, social interaction, and exploration–all of which can be provided by a well-run sanctuary. Flight is not essential. But of course a well-run sanctuary requires funding.

We should at least be honest with ourselves when we euthanise an animal due to disability–we are doing it in our best interest, not theirs.

A friend of mine who is a vet nurse found an injured gull by the side of the road near Forfar last Thursday. An x-ray on Friday revealed a closed, mid-shaft fracture which explains why the bird couldn’t walk or stand.

The bird who we have called Piper is an adult weighing 1.5kg and is eating and drinking well. She’s been getting pain relief for the fracture and we had some advice from a veterinarian at a wildlife hospital in Somerset that this is a perfect candidate for an IM (intramedullary) pin.

We spent a long time ringing vets in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. Most only treat cats and dogs. The only vet we found who was remotely interested quoted over £4000. We searched further afield and found Fife Exotic Animal Vets who gave a good prognosis and estimate a cost of £500 which is very reasonable. Piper is booked in for surgery on Tuesday morning 10th March. I’ve started a Go Fund Me to raise money for the surgery. Please donate if you can or share the link.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/surgery-for-piper-injured-gull

I’m nearly two weeks into my sugar-free diet. My plan is to do it for a month and I expect by then my tastes will have changed such that I’ll no longer find sweet food appealing. This is largely what happened with salt.

I’m already noticing changes. In the first week I craved chocolate and spent several days looking longingly at a packet of raisins. This week that temptation has gone and I’m now enjoying 100% dark chocolate which was bitter and unpleasant last week. Fresh fruit is permitted and I have stocked up on yummy things like mangoes and papaya to satisfy any cravings. I eat the seeds with the papaya as these are good for you.

The other night a badger appeared on the wildlife camera in our garden. I’ve never seen a badger before other than a dead one on the road so I was naturally thrilled to have one in our backyard. He appears from about 20 seconds in the video. He looks like a big, healthy boy.

Recently I’ve been trying to catch some pigeons in the local shopping centre that have string wrapped around their feet. One of them can’t walk because his legs are tied together. I want to help them. They’re very wary of me now and I’ve had no luck so far but I will keep trying.

I’m loving my glasshouse hot tub – you could say it’s my man cave. Why is a woman cave not a thing? Why is it only men who get a cave? Come to think of it I don’t really want a cave. This is my palace! A woman palace. The last two days I’ve woken up and hopped straight in the hot tub first thing in the morning with a cup of coffee.

It’s so relaxing and hard to get out. But eventually I wanted my breakfast.

We’ve had our dwarf hamster, Angelina, for almost a year now. We adopted her from Gumtree after someone else had grown tired of her. She was kept in the most abysmal conditions – no bedding for burrowing, no wheel, no sand bath. Now she’s living her best life. Here’s her cage hooked up to a playpen. If she’s up during the day when I’m at my desk I’ll open the door and let her go in and out. She likes it.

Here’s 45 seconds of her running on her wheel in the playpen.

Last week we had a Syrian hamster, Boog, for a few days. He was also advertised on Gumtree when someone decided they didn’t want him anymore. We already have two hamsters and don’t have space for another but someone just south of Aberdeen who is a member of the hamster rescue network in Scotland was able to take him so we collected him and cared for him for a few days until he could make the journey south. This is his original cage which had pine bedding (bad for hamsters) and a tiny wheel. While he was with us I put in a proper wheel and replaced the bedding with care fresh. He’s gone now and in a much larger enclosure with lots of deep bedding where I’m told he’s built some burrows already. Happy rest of your life, Boog!