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Yesterday I took a walk. Went out and got some brekkie, tried to see if living here felt any different than visiting (the answer is not, yet, not really; but that's a different topic, and really complex. Short answer... I live here, and I've moved/travelled so much that one place is much like another in some ways, and nothing like any other in other ways).
I rambled home. I figured I'd stroll past the local liquor store (we only moved a block and a half from where we were; the walk to the PATH is about the same, even if the entrance isn't; which is why it's about the same).
On my way I was crossing the street (and there is a one of those cultural differences, people cross when/how they like. Oddly my knowing the rules for jaywalking in Calif. helps me here... I just don't have to worry about the lights on the far corners, but I digress), and noticed a pigeon acting oddly as I got to the far sidewalk.
It seemed to be dragging a plastic bag. I moved to get a better look, which is when I saw two other people stalking the bird. It had managed to get it's head into the straps of the plastic shopping bag, and it was twisted. The two birds it was with flew off, but this one just walked a bit more.
I didn't really think about what I was doing, I just adopted the habits of stalking chickens and started to triangulate the line of probably escape as the other two people shifted. I was on the street side and they were corralling it toward a stoop.
As they got closer to me it decided to fly away and a snagged it.
That's when experience with chickens paid off. I snaked my right hand between its wings, flipped it over, got a better grip on the legs/belly and had a (mostly) quiescent bird in my hands. One of the guys started to try to unwind the bag and I told him to stop, and showed him where I wanted him to hold it. Then I pulled my knife out, and cut the bag off. He unwound what was left (though at that point it wast really necessary). I turned the bird up, and tossed it into the air, whence it flew away.
Then I actually took a look at the other people. Two men, mid-thirties, huge grins on all our faces as we said, thanks, each to the other and went our varied ways.
I rambled home. I figured I'd stroll past the local liquor store (we only moved a block and a half from where we were; the walk to the PATH is about the same, even if the entrance isn't; which is why it's about the same).
On my way I was crossing the street (and there is a one of those cultural differences, people cross when/how they like. Oddly my knowing the rules for jaywalking in Calif. helps me here... I just don't have to worry about the lights on the far corners, but I digress), and noticed a pigeon acting oddly as I got to the far sidewalk.
It seemed to be dragging a plastic bag. I moved to get a better look, which is when I saw two other people stalking the bird. It had managed to get it's head into the straps of the plastic shopping bag, and it was twisted. The two birds it was with flew off, but this one just walked a bit more.
I didn't really think about what I was doing, I just adopted the habits of stalking chickens and started to triangulate the line of probably escape as the other two people shifted. I was on the street side and they were corralling it toward a stoop.
As they got closer to me it decided to fly away and a snagged it.
That's when experience with chickens paid off. I snaked my right hand between its wings, flipped it over, got a better grip on the legs/belly and had a (mostly) quiescent bird in my hands. One of the guys started to try to unwind the bag and I told him to stop, and showed him where I wanted him to hold it. Then I pulled my knife out, and cut the bag off. He unwound what was left (though at that point it wast really necessary). I turned the bird up, and tossed it into the air, whence it flew away.
Then I actually took a look at the other people. Two men, mid-thirties, huge grins on all our faces as we said, thanks, each to the other and went our varied ways.
