Camera-shy

 

Yesterday's urban wildlife encounter reminds me of an incident last fall, when I was on my way to set up breakfast for Demeter.

It's a short walk, and I caught the eye of a very young buck deer having a nosh in the plantations of a neighbouring apartment building.

"Don't worry," I told him.  "I'm not coming anywhere near you."

I'm pretty sure he didn't understand me, but he didn't challenge me, so I continued to the corner where I usually cross.  I got held up by what I call "funeral corteges", long lines of cars heading down Fairfield Road after being held up themselves by traffic signals further east.

While I waited, a young woman in grey sweats barrelled across the road from the other side, seemingly undeterred by the cars bearing down on her.  She was clutching her phone, and evidently intent on filming four or five deer that had now joined the buck, including a couple of young fawns.

I called to her, from where I stood:  "They have young with them; they might charge you!"  There have been reports of people being hurt by frightened urban deer over the years since they started appearing in Victoria, about twenty years ago; some dogs have had to be euthanised.

The woman, predictably, ignored me, gesturing uselessly as one deer came alarmingly close to her, although I don't think she understood the danger, then stretching out her arms to the sides, and pleading with them not to bolt -- as they were doing.

Did she really think they understood her words and gestures?  Did she believe she was in a Disney film?

A doe fled across the busy street, leaving her fawn behind, which eventually ventured after her.

None of them were run down -- including the clueless woman, still brandishing her phone, still calling after them to stay, to come back.

In which I reveal my true not-so-inner dorkdom

I have the sneaking suspicion that this has been the case for at least two years, but no one ever accused me of being observant: I discovered quite by accident this summer that the airlines have switched from two-prong to one prong headphones. Which means I can use my own headphones to watch and listen to stuff on the plane. Which is an enormous improvement; no more holding the cheap spongy ones to my ears while straining to hear dialogue. This being the case, I decided to buy an extra pair of headphones so everyone could enjoy the flight back home. I got some nice cobalt blue ones (to match my eyes) that fold flat and when we returned to our house, parked them by the television set. So lately, I've been listening to the TV on the headphones and I've made two more discoveries: this really improves my concentration; and it's much easier listening to the scores of digital radio stations that come with our TV package.

So I was flipping around the stations the other day, and tuned in to something called "Adult Alternative". I doubt this will always be the case, but I liked nearly every song that came up, even though I recognised less than ten percent of them.

Here's a couple of tunes I really liked:

And how about this? (There's a video, but I find it distracting and kinda clichéd. She keeps on running down halls. I'll watch David Tennant do it, but you have to draw the line somewhere.):
Maybe I've finally found a way to finally be au courante and a wee bit cool. (But don't hold your breath).