Until now, I’ve always had birds in my life. Growing up at the coast it was seagulls. My family had pet ones that perched on our porch rail. Most of my homes have had trees in the yard with birds in the trees, and I’ve had busy bird feeders too.
At the moment, my relationship with birds is limited to watching them from a distance. There is one exception. A lone tree outside my bedroom window houses birds, but I never see them. When the window is open I can hear them chirping.
I’ve never gotten used to loons. We lived by a lake once with very vocal loons. They don’t make what you’d call joyous sounds. However, at the moment, even a crow caw is welcome.
One doesn’t hear many wild animal noises in the city. Plenty of deer around but I’ve never heard them talk.
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Retailers install machines to save labour costs but the plans can backfire when unscrupulous customers find ways to thwart them. Someone will find ways to beat the machines and trouble comes when too many someones catch on. Shoplifting has always been an issue, but self checkouts have added new ways for customers to do a bit of free shopping. Ditto reusable shopping bags.
Many of us don’t care for the “do-it-yourself “ checkouts, but some have found them useful to avoid paying for everything they have in their cart. They don’t scan every item, or they use a code for a cheaper item than the one they’re buying. Another scam is using reusable bags to carry items as you shop, then skipping the check-out when you leave.
I suspect most people can’t be bothered cheating, but with the costs of everything so high, more might. Some battles are hard to win.
