Coco Calling No.286 - When Things Don’t Work Out Quite as You’d Like

My owner and his wife recently went to a wedding in Edinburgh. I never like it when they go away because somebody else has to look after me, but at least it was only for a weekend.

They tried to save some money by staying in an Airbnb. But this didn’t work out quite as they’d hoped. It was located above some shops on a busy thoroughfare. Having got in the front door, they then climbed a whole series of stark, bare, stone staircases and eventually arrived in the roof which had been divided into nine tiny rooms. They found theirs and went in. Clearly, the photograph used for the Airbnb website had been taken with a wide-angle lens, because in reality, the room was tiny. It had no windows, but just a skylight, and the ceiling was hung at around 5’10’’, giving it a very squeezed and squashed feel.

It didn’t take them very long to realise that this was the bedsit of a student which had been sub-let out. The walls were paper-thin so conversations between the students in the adjacent rooms could be heard loud and clear. The only cupboard in the room housed a water pump which made dreadful noises all through the night, and it wasn’t long before the sweet smell of cannabis began to waft up through the floor. Plus there was only one toilet which had to be shared by everyone, so timing was everything when you needed to go.

My owner and his wife really didn’t want to be there, but it was probably a good thing that they were. Because the whole experience made them appreciate everything that they have at home, which they could so easily take for granted. And at least their room was warm, dry and safe; in fact, it would probably have seemed like paradise to a refugee from a war-torn part of the world.

We parrots know that the secret to a happy life is learning to be grateful for what we have, and sometimes it doesn’t do us any harm to be reminded of how fortunate we really are.

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”                    

(Oprah Winfrey: [1954-present]: American talk show host, actor and author)

“…… give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”          

(1 Thessalonians 5:18b)