{In my hood} The Bird Man – Plus Ate Six



Spring is on it’s way but it’s a little bit shy.

The forecast for today is 14C with showers and tomorrow 20C and sunny.

Come rain or shine, hot or cold I see this man every Tuesday and Thursday when I walk down the road around 645am on the way to my Xbarre class.

He meticulously hangs up the cages and one by one he takes them down, places them on table and cleans out them out – that’s his bucket of water there on the pavement.

We make eye contact, I wave or smile and he nods. I held up my phone the other day to ask if it was OK to take a picture and he shrugged and smiled – the most contact we’ve had.

His home is no more than a bedroom and living room combined, a toilet and sink and a tiny kitchen.

On my walk back if I’m lucky, I see him coming out of his flat with four birdcages, the blue fabric pulled down over the bamboo cages. He wears blue tai chi silk pyjamas and has a long pouch of swords or sticks slung over his back.

He puts two cages on each side of the handlebars and rides off to the park where the covers will be lifted and the birds will sing and serenade him during his morning exercise.

I wonder how he lives with so many cages in his small rooms.

I wonder where he will move to when this small row of shops and flats  inevitably gets pulled down.

Occasionally, if I’m early I will stand and listen to his birds for a few seconds and just take in the moment.

I wonder what he thinks of the crazy taitai across the road.

I wonder what his story is.

What’s going on in your hood this week?

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