two builders, answered prayer, cricket

A pigeon flies to and fro over the vegetable garden, on each occasion, a twig or straw in its beak. It is building a nest, while down below, with the the help of stakes, string and netting, I am building structures to stop it eating my spinach, and romanesco.

I read of a woman who, while at school gave the Amazon as the longest river in the world in a test. After the test, she realized that the correct answer was the Nile and prayed that God would make the Amazon longer. Now geographers have announced that the Amazon rises further west than had previously been thought, and is therefore the world's longest river, and not the Nile, as we were taught at school.

Behind me I hear the unmistakeable voice (something about the pace of the words) of a cricket commentator. An elderly man overtakes me. He is holding the hand of a small boy. In his other hand, is a radio, whence the commentary. I learn that England needs 110 to win the fourth and final test against the West Indies.