The Clay kind are better

"It´s not that I want to kill her, I just wish she wasn´t alive...anymore." - Stewie Griffin

It´s funny for me to think that only one week ago I was in Croatia soaking up the sun, desperately getting as dark as the sun would let me before I headed north into the mountains, but in one week you can do a lot and cover a lot of ground. This past week I ticked north-western Slovenia off the list and now I´m on my second day in Salzburg. As you walk down the streets of Mozart´s hometown (until age 24), streets are littered with everything Mozart. But he´s not Salzburg´s only claim to fame. The Sound of Music, of course, where, in 1965 Julie Andrews taught us all a song to help us remember our doe-rei-mi´s, which brings us to the cultural topic of the week:

PIGEONS

I hate them. I really just don´t understand why anyone could have any reason to like them either. They´re dirty; they´re ugly; they don´ßt sound nice when they caw; they scavenge; and they are inefficient flyers. In some areas, pigeons are considered vermin. People are strongly encouraged not to feed them and they are often compared to the likes of rats...with wings. I would have liked to have a picture of one of them for this post, but I can´t be bothered to waste a photo on one of them.

I WILL say it IS good to be back in the mountains, since there aren´t quite as many pigeons around. They tend to hang out in bigger cities where there are more stupid tourists to feed them. I guess that´s kind of the thing. If someone feed a pigeon or two here or there it doesn´t really matter to them, because they aren´t actually directly affected by it unless they do it in their own home. I saw some people doing it today and it really pissed me off. I suppose, however, I used to feed seagulls and sparrows and other little birds (Trivia bit: Sparrows are not native to North America. They were brought over by the explorers as pets and since they had no natural preditors, were able to flourish...I imagine it´s the same with whatever kind of devil bird pigeons come from), but they are at least big birds and raptor-like, respectively.

In London, they say that you are never at any time more than 10m away from a rat. I never actually saw any while I was there, but a habit I DID pick up was attempting to kick pigeons as I walked by. Now, this may sound mean, but it´s absolutely necessary, kind of like having to eat a horseburger in eastern Europe...you just do what you gotta do. For the animal activists out there, though, I have never successfully hit one. I´d feel bad if I seriously injured it or whatever, so I like to give them a bit of a chance to not get hit. It´s not that I was them dead, I just don´t want them to be around me. Ever.

Remember that scene from Mary Poppins when they go to the bank and there´s that pigeon lady and it´s all emotional and the kids sing a song? Well, Julie Andrews was in Mary Poppins, just as she was in the Sound of Music (different character, of course)and she was one hell of singer in both, so much so that she even brought the hills life here in Austria. Having said that, though, I would sing praise to anyone who does the opposite to all the pigeons.