Piwakawaka on ANZAC Day

Piwakawaka (Fantail) came into the lounge today.  Maori regard it as a bad omen portending a death. I certainly hope it’s not that! I don’t think so or I wouldn't have any friends or relatives left.

 Actually, it’s an annual event for us.  In the autumn, when it's turning a cooler, I think the insects die out a bit and food becomes scarcer. Piwakawaka know that where we humans go, we disturb small flying things, and there lies a feast.  I believe they partly come inside to see what we humans are up to on perchance of meal. On the other hand, maybe they see the house as a cave; I expect there is plenty for a fantail to eat in a cave.

These cute little things do not fly in and crash about like most birds do; stunning themselves on the window, until I have to cover them with a towel to calm them, and put them outside.   They spend some time inside- maybe a half hour or so.One year an aggressive piwakawaka defended his territory against that alien bird in my mirror above the fireplace.  Frightened he would knock himself out as he charged and bashed into the mirror at breakneck speed, I resorted to covering it with a sheet while he was inside. Ed has even seen one flit outside, do a dropping and come back inside. They perch on the light chord and scan the room. They flash towards a certain point, flutter into a long loop and swoop back onto the chord. They seem to be hunting as happily as if they were in the bush.

He is a welcome guest in my house.

ANZAC Day

Look at Ed all dressed up to go and play at the ANZAC service. Well done you even if you do only go cos you’re in the band.  I don’t go, I'm not sure why.  I remember poppy day parades from my childhood, I thought they were totally boring and full of doddery old people who lived and fought in the war. Of course, when I was thinking this, it was only about 15 years after the war and these geriatrics were actually my parents’ generation. Oh the fickleness of youth. Anyway, I don't feel much affiliation with ANZAC's and Gallipoli.  They did not feature in the war my family fought, and under which shadow I grew up. Living in England I only heard about the German/British side of the war, so I feel remote from The New Zealand stories.

Not that I was interested in the war much anyway.  I do remember watching a TV programme on Auschwitz when I was about 11. It was the first time I had seen the full horror of it. I went to bed and cried myself to sleep at the realization that people could be so cruel to each other. I am surprised Mum and Dad let me watch it. They often censored programmes they though unsuitable – they must have thought I was ready for that one – educational I expect. Think they maybe should have censored it; think they thought they should have censored it too.  It was around 1962, 17 years after the war and still early days of TV.  I think it may have been the first time Mum and Dad had seen it in graphic detail themselves.