spiders on the ceiling and birds on the roof

I've thought of many things to write, but correcting student work is simply taking a long time. So eventually today I should get something written, just bear with me...


So hours later, I'm back. Occasionally in the house we find some lovely spiders. They seem to come in all shapes and sizes and don't play favourites; they'll visit anyone. Last night on my way to bed I happened to notice one crawling on the ceiling near the light. When I tried to get him with a book he fell onto the light fixture.
From there I chased him (I have decided that spiders are male...not that this makes any logical sense, but it is working for me right now.) with the book until he fell off to the floor. Then I bashed him with the book. It happened to be the library copy of The Cambridge Companion to Hannah Arendt. I had to bash him twice as it was the paperback version. I'm sure John, who has the room below me, was thrilled to hear that at 23.00. No more spiders tonight though!

The birds of the neighbourhood like to coo. Specifically they enjoy cooing either near, on or in the chimney that goes through the wall in my room. It's hard to tell if they are just chatting or actually having an important conversation. Unfortunately there is no way to tell them to shut up as I can't see the roof from my window. What I can see are all the rooves of the neighbours who live in the council housing. Those buildings are much shorter than this three storey Victorian house. And the rooves are flat so when it rains a lot of water accumulates - they were definitely not built for snow! The birds like splash about in the water and the cats like to walk around the water while showing their disaproval. The birds avoid the cats, the cats never manage to get the birds...as you can tell I get hours of entertainment from this. And of course from the people who live in these houses coming out to yell at the birds. The old couple across the way even shake their broom and mop at the birds occasionally. The most exciting thing was when a football (soccer) flew up and a young boy was suddenly walking around on the interconnected rooves. The birds really didn't know what to do with him!