Birds !!!!

When I was a child my friends were all at home watching 'It' and other adult horror movies set to give them a life long fear of clowns but I wasn't allowed. My parents were pretty steadfast in enforcing this rule but did allow us to watch some other slightly questionable movies we weren't quite ready for like tootsie or cheech and chong ( Which we didn't really get at all) or Alfred Hitchcock's 'the birds. If you don't know it, it's about a small town that gets attacked by birds and while it is fairly tame by current horror movie standards, back then it made an impact.

I have actually read that Hitchcock virtually tortured the actress Tippi Hendren, who played the lead role, to make her fear more believable. Now if you have never watched the movie then I am afraid it is too late for you. If you were to watch it now your mind would be tainted with comparisons of all the movies that have been made since then with superior special effects and you wouldn't understand what I'm talking about. I know I saw it myself a few years ago and I was struck by how different it was to what I'd remembered but it changed how I look at birds.
Do I know the movie was based entirely on a fictional scenario? sure I do but that doesn't mean birds don't make me nervous.

I actually get a shiver down my spine when I see a number of them gathered in any one spot particularly if they are all sitting in the one tree and I know that's because in the movie they would always gather right before an attack. So yes I'll admit it's not the most rational of fears but that doesn't really stop me watching the sneaky fuckers with one eye at all times. 

  My mistrust is of all birds, in equal measure. Once as a small child (before I'd watched the birds) I was chased around Fota wild life park by an emu they allow to walk around on the grounds (i'm not sure if they still do that) My siblings had been feeding the emu peanut butter and jam sandwiches but I didn't want to give mine away so it chased me, I've always been stubborn like that. And when I lived on the other side of the city there was a river outside my apartment and some mornings I'd look out to see 8 or 10 swans staring up at my window and it used to freak the shit out of me. I've heard they can break your arm but logically I am aware its  in protecting themselves they do that and not some random act of violence.

In reality it is relatively easy to avoid running into swans or emus while wandering about the city but pigeons (rats with wings ) are another story. The city is infested with them and there are places in town where people scatter breadcrumbs so heavily to feed them that I feel nervous walking through those areas. Possibly a little ridiculous but I don't like how they aren't afraid so they get far closer than I'd like them to and fly right at you when some child decides to chase them. Just the other day I was getting some sun on my lunch and I had to move twice because people kept sitting beside me with their small children and a large supply of bread and I was feeling too nervous as all  the pigeons bobbed around me. 

on a more positive note having never seen 'IT' as a child. I have no issues with clowns