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Common sense

Now that I am writing this it is the middle of February.

An Eastern middle man had called if he might come to my place and if I was willing to put some birds in the aviary and ship them for him.

I asked how many birds they were.

18 Total.

Since he was ok and there were no more than 18 birds that was no problem.

When he showed up he asked me to see the birds.

When I handled them I was shocked about the poor quality but said nothing.

I think he must have seen from my face I was not enthusiastic.

I saw that the birds were about half a year old.

"The good thing with such birds is that my clients can directly breed from them" he encouraged himself.

"And the bad thing is such birds are no good" I reacted, realising I spoiled his day.

But I meant well when I said this. I just wanted to open his eyes.

Since he looked at me questioningly with a clearly unsure look in his eyes I explained.

 

EXPLANATION

"At this time of the year you should not buy birds" I said.

"You will get the leftovers that the fanciers do not need themselves."

"You should see the pedigrees" he reacted.

I frowned?

See the pedigrees? What for?

Then I told my story.

"In the past the destination for birds that were no good was the poulterer.

But times changed. Today, with all those buyers from for example China, they put those shit birds in an aviary where they are waiting for foreign clients."

"Why foreign clients?" he asked.

"Because we here in Holland and Belgium do not buy pigeons in February.

It is in the middle of the breeding season and the racing season will start soon.

And we know those birds that are for sale now are no good."

For a while he did not speak.

Then his face cleared up and he said: "I have learnt my lesson.""

I hope he had and felt sorry for the new owners of these birds.