Country living – with birds!

One of the happy by-products of our move is that we have accidentally facilitated a job opportunity for child#1. As is common for the many graduates flooding the job market, it had been an attritional process to gain employment relevant to both his degree and chosen career path. Hundreds (literally) of application forms, many with no acknowledgement/reply, several interviews (many by Skype or phone, with follow-up face-to-face), lots of cancelled interviews, all the time working in sundry bars/restaurants to keep the money coming in and the cv ticking over. Finally success and a job which, whilst it is not quite what he wanted, is a pretty good match…. and not being London based has really helped.

Environmental management doesn’t sound very exciting, but managing with birds of prey is a very different beast – pun intended! When we first heard that we were to have two new additions to the household, we were excited. I had to google Harris hawk as I had not heard of them before. The family became very excited about whether we could name them and what we should consequently call them. The writer her indoors started the ball rolling with Thelma and Louise, if they were both female. What ensued was a typical range of increasingly unsuitable names: Stan and Ollie for two males, Peters and Lee for one of each (me showing my age), Jake and Elwood (one of my favourite films), Jacqueline and Elwoodina if they were female, Pam and Mick (family reference to possibly the greatest comedy show ever written – Gavin and Stacey), Lenin and Trotsky, Ken and Barbie, Starsky and Hutch, Theresa and Jeremy, Mac and Cheese etc… We settled on the two Ronnies, so they wouldn’t be upset if we couldn’t differentiate between the two! Disappointingly, they arrived already named…

They live in the garden, housed in weatherings and live on chicks and quails, though the discussion of feeding habits is discouraged when we are eating! Child #1 flies them to help manage environments in the south-west, ranging from factory rooves, cathedrals, hospitals and even a rugby club. The most fun, however, has been had with discussing the’ birds’ as it just sounds so 70s… ‘I’m just going out with my birds’, ‘the birds are in the van’, ‘I’m just going to grease their jesses’, ‘I’m taking my birds to the coast today’… cue theme music from The Sweeney, whilst I go and fire up the Granada!

Eating: It is the time of year for hearty weekend breakfasts in our household, so this Shakshuka, recipe from BBC Good Food, certainly hits the spot. I added spinach with the eggs and served with avocado.

Drinking: The red above, a supermarket wine from France – very dark fruits, full bodied and totally appropriate for this time of year.

Listening to: Child #2 suggested Jorja Smith to me and, once I was over my rant about spelling names ‘properly’ I tried. However, the first songs to which I listened reminded me of one of my favourite albums of yesteryear – A Little Deeper, from 2002, the debut album by Ms Dynamite, so I retreated into that. Favourite tracks: Put him out and Brother.