A turn off the access road into a local marina leads one onto the top level of a multi storey car park. On a rainy day the top level being roofless generally has a very large but shallow puddle in the central area. The local Seagull fraternity use this fresh rainwater as a drinking and bathing place.
I parked on the top level one wet day and skirting the puddle made my way to the pedestrian stairway leading to the lower levels. As I did so a flock of about a dozen Seagulls in hot pursuit of a single Gull flew screaming over the car park. I looked up to see the Gull being chased had what I thought at first was a large Crab in it's beak. The lone Gull swooped and jinked to avoid it's pursuers and then when almost directly overhead, released it's 'catch' and I watched in amazement as the 'catch' fell, arms and legs splayed, spinning and turning like a miniature Sky Diver before the parachute opens.
Seconds later there was a splash and I hurried to the centre of the shallow puddle, and there lay the "Girl who fell from the Sky"...
Having seen Seagulls swoop on unsuspecting Tourists and rob them of Ice Creams, Hot Dogs and even bags of Chips, I can easily imagine some poor Toddler sitting in a pushchair on the seafront somewhere, distraught, because a Seagull in search of food had swept down and snatched the Dolly from small hands.
The Girl who fell from the sky, suitably dried out, now lives with me. My Granddaughter is 26 so a new, younger owner/ Guardian of Sky Girl is yet to be found...
I parked on the top level one wet day and skirting the puddle made my way to the pedestrian stairway leading to the lower levels. As I did so a flock of about a dozen Seagulls in hot pursuit of a single Gull flew screaming over the car park. I looked up to see the Gull being chased had what I thought at first was a large Crab in it's beak. The lone Gull swooped and jinked to avoid it's pursuers and then when almost directly overhead, released it's 'catch' and I watched in amazement as the 'catch' fell, arms and legs splayed, spinning and turning like a miniature Sky Diver before the parachute opens.
Seconds later there was a splash and I hurried to the centre of the shallow puddle, and there lay the "Girl who fell from the Sky"...
Having seen Seagulls swoop on unsuspecting Tourists and rob them of Ice Creams, Hot Dogs and even bags of Chips, I can easily imagine some poor Toddler sitting in a pushchair on the seafront somewhere, distraught, because a Seagull in search of food had swept down and snatched the Dolly from small hands.
The Girl who fell from the sky, suitably dried out, now lives with me. My Granddaughter is 26 so a new, younger owner/ Guardian of Sky Girl is yet to be found...
