bovver gulls part deux

I reported recently how seagulls in our street had taken to mobbing passers-by and indeed any moving thing that they viewed as a potential threat to their young. Now they appear implicated in a new development: raiding the black bags put out on rubbish collection day. For some weeks I had noticed that some time in the night before rubbish collection, someone, or something, had ripped open dozens of bags up and down the street, strewing the rotting contents over the pavements. I had assumed it was one, or perhaps a group of indigent denizens of our community, perhaps illegal immigrants on their last reserves. I might have had some sympathy with their plight, but their selfishness in leaving such an appalling mess every week overcame that emotion with ease: how could anyone be so selfish, or indeed so desperate, as to behave in such a way?

Then earlier this week my wife provided the answer: it was the gulls, moving from one bin-bag to the next, expertly slicing them open to inspect the contents, and extremely resistant to any attempt at shooing them away. Well, now we know.

COMMENT

Speaking of selfish behaviour, how about the latest breed of copper thieves? Recently, my wife's return from London on the train was delayed for over 2 hours because someone had made away with all the copper wiring from a vital switching station at West Drayton. Numerous other train journeys that afternoon were also affected, delaying thousands of hapless travellers.

Yesterday we learned that a delightful little bronze stature by Goscombe John, which had been standing unmolested in a city centre park for over 100 years, had been hacked off at the ankles and carried away to the smelters. Thus a piece of art that had given pleasure to thousands for over a century was reduced to ingots in minutes, for the sake of perhaps £400. This is a sickening crime, a slap in the face for a whole city. Do the thieves care about that? Do they fuck.

This of course is all about the rapidly spiralling value of copper, as world demand for its use in electronic equipment outstrips the rate of production. Think about that the next time you go into town and buy your ipad or wide screen TV...