Bobby

Steve and I started living together in 1998. We rented Tim's flat - it was a quite a large one bedroom flat with a balcony and if you held your head at an unnatural angle you could make out the sea. We had been living there a few months when we bought a budgie. Steve had had budgies as pets when he was a kid so he knew a bit about them. Steve bought a yellow and blue budgie and we called him Bobby. I can't remember who chose the name. We kept the cage in the living room and turned up the telly so we could hear it over his twittering. If it was warm I put the cage out in the balcony so he could get a bit of air. He loved that - and he was safe from cats. A year later we got a dark blue budgie called Percy. Percy was quieter than Bobby but they was always preening each other. When we moved to the house we kept them in the living room , but moved them upstairs when we got Penny (she showed a bit too much interest in them. Tommy took no notice) We couldn't leave the cage out in the garden as there are too many local cats. Percy died last year but Bobby is still going strong. He is the first pet we got, and I remember thinking it was bit of a commitment getting a joint pet.
Every morning we wake up to Bobby's singing. I don't think I'd ever get another caged bird - I feel guilty that he doesn't ever get out of his cage these days. Although he seems happy with his toys and mirror - and he can be a noisy bugger.

Saturday

Met my Mum today at Southend. We sat on the balcony at the Navy and Military Club and you could hear the screams from the roller coaster. The tide was in, it was a really beautiful view. Mum was telling me that Aaron thinks that alien lawn mowers make the mysterious crop circles. Well that is as good a theory as any..
Walking down the high street there was a woman at a little stall, the sign read "let the parrot pick your future".That is strange in itself, but the bird wasn't a parrot. It was a budgie. She didn't have many customers.