Learning From Your Mistakes

It was the kind of day that only Cardiff could serve up. Sometimes it doesn't rain in Cardiff, it’s just wet; grey, dark and wet. The roads are wet, the windows wet and, there’s no point having an umbrella because even if you use one, you arrive at your destination soaked to the skin. The water seeps through the skin and distils into pure melancholy that only the Welsh can truly understand.

But I wasn't melancholic; I was in a pretty good place, even if I was getting soaked. I'd just been offered a new job, and was just on my way to see my old boss to tell him where he could stick his pay freeze.
They say in London you are always no more than a metre away from a rat, in Cardiff it’s seagulls that pervade every nook and cranny, trying to steal your food, waking you up in the morning and generally ruling the roost.  But still, when a giant bird falls from the sky and hits you dead weight in the back of the neck, it comes as a bit of a surprise. We lay on the wet pavement side by side puddles gathering around us. Me feeling dazed, the seagull as dead as a Norwegian blue. Passers by came to help, two sat me up and made sure I was okay while one tried to revive the bird. In my confused state I remember being asking why she prioritised the bird over me.  Then I passed out again and woke up in the Infirmary.
The bird apparently had had a massive heart attack mid flight caused by the junk food diet they get courtesy of Saturday night revellers. While I had mild concussion and a night in hospital for observation.
But I’ve learnt my lesson, so if you are in Cardiff on one of the 6 days a year it’s not raining, and you see a man using an umbrella, say hello to me, and watch out for those falling birds. 

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