I've just been looking through my notebooks, as I usually do at New Year,
and remembered this happening:
A few years ago I was on North Stradbroke Island, on foot, and I walked one
day all the way from the township at the north-eastern point to Blue Lagoon,
and back again (about 30km). It was very hot and I was exhausted when I got
back late, and, although I didn't realise it, extremely dehydrated.
Everywhere that sold food was closed by this time, except a sort of Country
Club type place, where they ignored my dishevelled appearance, and served me
food (at vast cost), I also ordered a beer. That tasted so good I ordered
another, but when I got up to leave I realised that I was so dehydrated that
the aIcohol had gone straight to my head and I was almost literally legless
(if you see what I mean).
I was staggereing back to my cabin when I noticed a Boobook Owl perched on a
support-wire to a power-line pole that also had a street-light on it. It was
obviously hawking for insects attracted to the light. Because it was perched
on an angle it was holding its head at a funny angle to its body to keep its
eyes level. I looked at it, and it looked at me. I twisted my head around to
the same angle as the owl's head, the owl didn't react; I, unbalanced, fell
over into the gutter, the owl looked down at me with an unchanged
expression, but was probably thinking 'These humans are such idiots'. I
crawled away.
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John Leonard (Dr),
PO Box 243,
Woden, ACT 2606
'I thought of New York as a Hemlock forest that had
been logged too heavily....'
Murray Gell-Mann
http://www.spirit.net.au/~jleonard
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