blackbird, story, smile

I find that if you stand still for a few minutes, birds and animals are more likely, as this blackbird does, to pose for your camera.

Tristan drops in to see us, bringing as ever anecdotes. One is about a Spanish friend who collects people by appointment at an airport in Spain local to where he lives. His friend stands with other drivers by the barrier with a board bearing the name of his client. Soon he is the only person left waiting, and no more passengers appear through customs. He waits, nevertheless, because he has no reason to believe that the person he is meeting is not on the flight in question. He waits and waits. Eventually his phone rings. His client is calling from a police station. Apparently he has been kidnapped and robbed by a thief, who has hit it on the idea of copying his name from the board of the bona fide driver on to another board and then placing himself closer to where the passengers exit ... and, as they might well say in Spain, "Roberto es su tio!"

A pleasant young woman pushing a pram , smiles shyly as we pass in the Grove. I don't think I know her, but that makes her smile all the more valuable.