Do Not Disturve

That was what I had written on a piece of paper which I stuck on our bedroom door, when I was five or six. Of course my brother and sister had a good laugh at my expense. But that was what I thought it was. And in my mind, "disturve-ing"  people was not a nice thing to do. My mother hated waking up people, but it's one of the things mothers have to do. I think I enjoyed my kids' school holidays especially for this reason: not having to wake them up!

And then, for two days running, I inadvertently woke up the solitary pigeon that sleeps outside our bedroom window. On Thursday my older daughter took me out on an impromptu shopping and lunch expedition, which was great fun, but then I had to hang out the laundry in the balcony after I got home at four-thirty. At seven o'clock I decided to take the clothes off the line, completely forgetting that the solitary pigeon retired at six p.m. (Pigeon or no pigeon, I'd rather not have laundry hanging out all night). As soon as I opened the balcony door the pigeon flew off. I don't know if it came back later or not. Yesterday again I did the laundry rather late in the day, and it wasn't dry when I left home at two in the afternoon. I got home at nine. This time I remembered the (damn) pigeon, and tried entering the balcony from the guest room side. (Our bedroom and guest room both open onto a common balcony). But once again I did "disturve" the sleeping bird, who flew off immediately.

And then, today, a friend on Facebook posts this picture:

"A woman cuts the hem of her kimono so as not to wake a cat."

I do not love the pigeon. But I do feel sorry for disturbing its sleep.