Sea gulls. Stupid birds!!!
For years they have been nesting close to our local railway station. Now, part of their nesting space has been transformed into a parking lot. The gulls doesn't seem to realise that, building their nests and laying their eggs where they used to. Those using the parking place itself for nesting aren't much of a problem (for us humans) - the nests don't last long enough for the eggs to hatch.
But for the birds nesting in the close vincinity (seems that the correct spelling is "vicinity", but I like "vincinity" better), it's another matter. Like their parents, the young ones aren't very clever. As soon as they learn to walk (but before flying) they tend to walk into the parking lot. Now, we drivers prefer not to run over them, or otherwise threat them badly. But the parents don't appreciate that. So like screaming Messerschmitts they come diving, dropping bombs (mainly bird poo) on us, or they even enter into melee combat armed with sharp beaks. We have to use umbrellas, even if it's not raining (water).
I (somewhat) hate seagulls.
Another person whose relation to seagulls is a bit strained, was the man who checked in at the Canadian 5 star Fairmont Empress hotel 18 years ago. For some reason he had brought with him a significant amount of pepperoni. And due to somewhat lacking cooling facilities in the room, he spread the material on a table, leaving the window open. Then he went for walk. When he returned to his room he found it inhabited by 40 seagulls devouring said pepperoni (and probably making a lot of noise). The birds weren't too happy by his arrival, and started panicking, flying randomly all around the room, only occasionally finding the way to the open window. Drooling, dropping poo bombs and in general making havoc. To put it mildly, the room wasn't habitable afterwards. Housekeeping was not pleased. "
I can still remember the look on the lady’s face when she opened the door".
It didn't help that during the fight he threw one of his shoes at one particularly nasty perp, missing the gull, but hitting a tourist on the ground below.
After the ordeal he was declared
persona non grata, forever banned from visiting the hotel again.
Yet another person with a seagull problem was this guy who recently was sentenced to 30 days in prison and 120 hours of public service (correct English?) for killing seagulls,. Why? Some seagulls (
Rissa tridactyla) are endangered, killing them is in general frowned upon. In addition he had in stead of just shooting them with an air gun, also brutally stepped on some of the birds. If you find the verdict a bit harsh, there were a couple of other offences. He had for instance peed on a police car, forgetting that policemen tend to get grumpy (pissed) by such actions. If you think the verdict was mild, well this is Norway.
pibbur whose relation to sea gulls are definitely better, but who still finds them annoying (occasionally).
PS. Pepperoni man was recently excused and allowed entrance to the hotel again. Partly because the room cooling facilities now are significantly improved. DS.
