Hi to all

As you know I house sit regularly for someone and recently I had an adventurous week there.

Firstly I found myself chatting away to myself like a mad woman in my bedroom (yes it is my bedroom because I spend lots of time in it! In fact the couple who I house sit for call it my bedroom!! And I find myself saying “I’m going home”  when I’m going back there!! ) when I turned around to find one of these sitting on the windowsill looking at me (the inside windowsill I might add.)

 

Yes it did have this look on it’s face because, like I said I was talking to myself!!

I stopped in my tracks, said “hello” and asked it what it was doing in the house; needless to say it did not answer, but  cheeped something at me, whilst I’m  frantically working out how I can get it out of the house safely. And then I remembered the cat!!The cat who is ever elusive and not always available who is now sitting at the end of the landing looking at me and looking as if it is about the eat the owl!

 

I moved quickly to stop the cat, but instead spooked the owl, who then flew down the corridor towards the cat, spooking the cat, who ran into the bedroom. I quickly shut the door whilst trying to reassure the owl (I was assuming it was bi-lingual and could speak English). I opened all the windows that I could along the landing, whilst the cat, who when I invite it to come out and sit with me, looks at me with disdain, was yowling to come out. I tried to encourage the little owl out from it’s hiding place, to no avail, so I left if for ten minutes and called my husband for advice – I don’t know why he knows bugger all about owls!!  Needless to say he was about as much use as a chocolate teapot, and asked me who I thought he was “Chris Packham!!” He also told me that I had been reading too much Harry Potter!!

When I returned to the landing the owl was no-where to be seen when I checked it’s hiding place. “Thank goodness for that!” I thought, and went to let the cat out, but something made me think to check behind a large ornate bucket and there it was blinking at me. “For God’s sake mate” I said in my best Essex accent,” I’ve opened all the bloody  windows” I’m now starting to sound like Michael Caine!  “Just go out as the cat wants to come out and it wants to eat you.”

Now  must have been watching “TOWIE” as it understood me and flew to the window, but then the strangest thing happened, it perched on the window, turned and looked at me for a couple of minutes and then chirped as if it was saying “Thank you.”

All joking aside it was an amazing experience, it was so beautiful, it looked just like this.

 

But it wasn’t so funny when I realised that it had come in down the chimney in the living room and there was owl’s shit and soot everywhere. So I cleaned it all up and thought (even though I was now mopping the floor for the fourth time) , “do you know what I don’t mind I feel blessed to have seen an owl so close up.”.

In fact Rich looked up the meaning, and although some cultures  believe an owl’s visit means death, it is often not in a literal sense but  a meaning of change, the end of one thing and the start of something new – again weird!!!!!!!!! Some cultures also believe that if you have been visited by an owl you have been blessed, so I’m going with that one!

Anyway I let the cat out and had a lovely evening. The next morning, I am speaking to Rich on the phone and I heard a noise, jokingly I said “don’t tell me the bloody owls back!!” haha ha, chuckle, chuckle. It was!!! Back down the chimney it had come, soot and owls shit everywhere. looking at me on the living room windowsill!! So I opened the door and got it to go out, again it landed on the door and stopped and looked at me, then cheeped as if to say goodbye.

I never thought that I would have the opportunity to see such a beautiful bird so close up, and despite the cleaning up I do feel privileged.

But what it does tell me folks is if you have a house in the French countryside you cannot lock up and leave it!!! Not unless you want to come back to catastrophe – there are a lot of critters out there that would find it very welcoming.

Watch out for more posts about living in the French countryside.

 

Moisy