I get a great deal of simple pleasure from the little birds around our house. I have a couple of small bird feeders, one at the back of the house just outside the living room.
And one at the front which I can observe from the kitchen window. I have it hanging off the branch of a tree and I find it fascinating to watch the little birds fluttering in and fighting to get the best spot from which to pick at the peanuts in the feeder.
Sometimes it resembles an airport at which planes are circling to land but must wait for the green light from air traffic control.
Yesterday, I found a little bird in the living room when I entered. He tried to escape but ended up slamming into the windows each time he tried to get out.
Eventually, I could pick him up in my hand and carry him outside to recover. Thankfully, he did recover after a brief rest and flew off.
There is a lot to be said for the simple things in life from which you can gain great satisfaction and a sense of the continuing, enduring nature of life.
I think, sometimes, of my father too, for I know he used to stop at Blackwater Bridge on his way back to Enfield from Furey’s pub with my mother to listen for the fast disappearing corncrake.
It’s probably a bit of a cliche, a bit old hat, to suggest that the simple things in life can give a tremendous, daily, consistent dose of pleasure and satisfaction. But it’s true.