Seagull City

Once upon a time at a holiday home near Camber Sands…

Itwas nearly time for the family to go home and as he was dozing in his place on the sofa

Magnus laughed to himself about the seagulls. There were so many of them, he thought that the place should be called ‘Seagull City’! There were seagulls at the beach, around the caravans on their roofs and there were millions always resting on the roof of the entertainment centre! In fact, one of the cups sold at the shop had seagulls all over it which just proved his point!

At times there were thunderous noises on the roof and Poppy got herself into a state wondering what was happening. She’d jump around and squeal looking at the roof until Grandad told her to stop being so silly. Even when they went out for walks around the caravans they’d be stamping around large as life and totally unafraid of the dogs or Nanny. Poppy of course tried to chase them, but Nanny was trying to teach her (as instructed) to ‘look and leave’. That instruction was also for other dogs, pushchairs, prams, small children and anyone running past. Nanny was having some small successes, but it was hard work. Poppy was just so impulsive. Magnus of course prided himself of being past all that nonsense.

One of the funniest incidents occurred one day when Magnus looked out from the car to see Nanny coming out of the washing machine place. A seagull took off from the roof quite suddenly; Nanny was startled but just carried on. It wasn’t until the afternoon, when they’d gone for a walk on the beach that Pascal, the lovely Security man at the gate, told Nanny she’d been dive bombed by a seagull. Sure enough, all down the back of her jacket was the evidence. It took her two washes and Grandad finally doing the job before the jacket was finally clean.

On another day when the wind was really blowing very hard, Nanny noticed that a seagull had let fly just as it flew off the roof of their house. It was all splattered down the back of the house. It didn’t take too long to clean off but it was a nuisance to have to do it. Then the wind changed direction and Nanny came back to see the front door and the front wall ‘decorated’. Easy to clean, but not fun in the shiveringly cold wind. Magnus thought that one was really funny too. Nanny didn’t.

The final straw happened one afternoon, when Grandad said to Nanny, “Those seagulls are building their nest on next door’s roof.” Sure enough, all around the skylight was a mess of sticks and bits and pieces. It looked a bit loose and untidy. They decided to tell someone about it the next day, but in the night it grew very windy again. In the morning Nanny noticed that the mess of sticks and bits had disappeared. She was very pleased, and Grandad was too.

Nanny and Grandad were beginning to talk more about going home and things were being put into bags and boxes, so their time away was nearly done. Magnus wondered what had been happening at that little farm near Billingshurst but that’s a story for another day.

Yvonne Fleece