Budgie trouble

The mention of my old friend Geoff Crummock in that last blog reminded me of the bad luck he used to have with his pets.

He had a guinea-pig for a while and fed it carrots and other bits of vegetables. The guinea-pig didn't do much so the carrots and vegetables were piled pretty high in its cage before Geoff noticed it was dead.

There was also a budgie (no-one round our way called them budgerigars) which used to fly around his kitchen and perch on the creel. Most kitchens had a creel in those days before spin-dryers. It was a slatted wooden device on which you hung the washing. A rope and pulley system allowed it to be hoisted up to the ceiling. My dad used to say that Monday (washing day) at our house resembled Nelson's signal at Trafalgar - England expects.....

The disappearance of the creel was a red letter day in social advancement, as significant as the arrival of a telephone. I was working before we had a phone at my parents' home. I know because I paid to have it installed.

Anyway one day Geoff's mum was lowering the creel to hang some washing and the budgie was perched on the rope. Suddenly there was an almighty screech as she hoisted the washing and the budgie's feet were mangled in the pulley.

But at least this budgie fared a little better than the one that had been his auntie's pride and joy. She really loved that budgie and cleaned its cage every day. In fact she polished its perch so much that it slipped off and broke its back on the bottom of the cage. No, you wouldn't have wanted to be a budgie in the Crummock family.