In the year 2007 our daughter Cathy was promoted to a managerial role in London.  After some months she was missing "home", so we decided to visit her.

In the first few days we settled in with her in her small flat in Windsor and she was able to take a few days off.

We decided on a flight to Paris and to stay in a small hotel near the Arc de Triumphe.

Among the many notable buildings which we visited were the Arc, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Hotel des Invalides (where Napoleon's body lies) and the Chateau de Ver Sailles.

We then decided to visit the Notre Dame Cathedral.  As it was only a short walk we set off.  On arrival we joined a long queue to get in, or so we thought.  The queue grew longer and longer and we didn't appear to be moving anywhere.  Every now and then we would move a few paces forward and then stop again, and wait.  Approximately an hour late we were given a ticket to enter, so we were getting closer.  Finally a door opened and we, along with 20 others, were ushered into a dark little room with just stairs in it.  We started to climb and soon realized that we had joined in a queue to climb to the top of the tower, and not to just visit the magnificent Cathedral, as we had intended.

So, slowly we ascended the 263 steps and finally we reached the Bell Tower at the very top of the Cathedral.  I was so exhausted!  I found a chair and just sat there, trying to get my breath back and work up enough energy to face the fact that I had to walk back down those 263 steps.  The view from the top was amazing, looking out over Paris.

After descending slowly down we were then inside the Cathedral and I could once again just sit in a pew and relax.

If only I'd known I was in the wrong queue!!


Ray O'Shannessy
​9th September, 2021

On the last day of winter, being in lockdown, I had settled in to watch the Paralympics on T.V.  Being a lovely day, Bernadette was doing outside chores in the sunshine.

Next thing I knew, she entered the lounge room, trembling and in a state of frenzy.  "Didn't you hear me?  Didn't you hear me?".  I blissfully hadn't heard a thing but the television.  After some time she calmed down and told me the story.  It goes like this:- In the back yard she had discovered a plover chick, stranded.  She tried to console it and was attached, not once, but many times, but the mother plover which was diving viciously at her.  Somehow she escaped and came inside.

After hearing the story, we both went out to the laundry back window and gazed out into the yard.

We saw the chick, not moving, just lying on the lawn in the sun.  There was the occasional magpie flying over the yard, and then, out of nowhere, a squawking plover descended and hurriedly ran to the chick, nextling it lovingly, still squawking.  Enchanted, we stood there for some time by the window, wondering what what would happen next.  Eventually, another squawking plover flew over the yard, came back and landed, out of vision of the mother, and tentatively strutted sround.  Both birds were making a lot of noise but no progress in getting together.

Then from the T.V. in the lounge room came the sound of a band playing the Australian national anthem.  Another Australian Gold Medal!

Distracted, we left the window and went to see who had won the medal.  After listening to the anthem and the subsequent interview with the victor, we returned to our viewing position.

Nothing to be seen!  Both plovers and the chick were gone!  How did this happen?  However had the adult birds managed to move their chick?  We will never know!

IF ONLY WE HADN'T BEEN DISTRACTED!!

Since that day I have constantly wondered!  I am intrigued by nature, by the bird world, by the animal world, by humanity, by the universe!  I feel assured of a deity!  Indeed, I have experienced an epiphany!


Ray O'Shannessy
8th September 2021