London Sketches – Quackitude!

Ducks! Got to love ‘em. The London Duck or should I say, specifically, the Thames Quack adds a quirkish charm to this famous river. If you wander along the Thames Path, Battersea-way, you’ll come along a break in the embankment near St Mary’s Church. Here, fabulous fowl of the water gather to groom, waddle and confabulate. Ever noticed that a duck’s neck has the miraculous rotation of a vacuum cleaner? Next time you’re out, watch them sift and groom; it is quite soothing, that sends one picking lint off one’s own apparel à sympatico.
Owners who let their dogs off the lead, create a stressed stir, as the birds lift off out of reach. One offender, not a dog, but a thuggish child began hurtling about and then picking up stones to hurl at the birds. The mother, iplugged and iphoned in, ignored the rotten little terror. Not so, a sage and sizeable duck (goose?), who cared not for the child’s antics, who raised her wings and went on the attack. The Millennium Mum finally noticed,  outraged that her Darling Little Shit  be singled out so.
(There was no-one around but me to complain to.)
“Did you see that? That duck went for my BABY. F**k! I’m going to complain, that’s a dangerous animal!”
“I think you’ll find your son was throwing stones at it. Research shows that animal abuse is a reliable predictor of violence against people, Can I suggest your son is more of a danger to society than the duck?”
This of course, had her indignant, scurrying off with her squawking boy in its blessed, navy ‘Bugaboo’. I could swear that the duck’s eyes met mine and she and I, shared a (figurative) high five.