Landing Tits Up!

At 10am I arrived at my brothers house on the canal near Abergavenny, believing I'd had an e-mail from him asking me to take some photo's of the house as it's on the market. He has the same name as dad, and an almost identical e-mail address. It turned out the e-mail request was from my dad, so I was at the wrong place. It caused a laugh and some mickey taking when he phoned my dad to explain - I hope it's not the onset of senility.

I stopped for a coffee. My brother told me that liability had been admitted for his fall in a local pub a few months ago. I hadn't heard about it so he told me that he and his girlfriend, and tenants of a house they rent out, had gone to a fine dining pub on the outskirts of Abergavenny. My brother had a pint of beer and went to the mens toilet. A while later he had another pint (he has a bladder problem) and returned to the toilet. On opening the door he tumbled down concrete stairs into the cellar, in pitch darkness. Finding his way back up the stairs, he was shaken and hurt.

It transpired the barmaid had been into the cellar and had not locked it afterwards. The door is next to the gents and he had mistaken it. The steps were immediate on opening and he'd tumbled down.

This caused much laughter amongst his group and the manager became aware. He had hurt himself, having to take off his shoe due to swelling,  damaged knee, cuts and bruises and neck problems. He put up with it for a week before going to hospital where they documented it all.The insurers have admitted liability and have scheduled a medical.

By contrast, the tits nesting in my garden nestbox have amazing skill in landing. They must approach the box at a speed about 30 mph and seem to stop dead on the box before hopping in seamlessly. They're fascinating to watch and hard to photograph being so fast.

The blip photo is one I managed of a blue tit in the process of braking and landing on the concrete nest box. We seem to have them nesting most years and are fabulous entertainment.