Nov 29, 2009

Crime Against Humanity

I've given you pictures of the suspects and the crime scene. Now I'm telling you about the incident that lends it's nature to the title of this post.

It all started on a lovely morning at Fowey on that fateful day. Hubby & I had been enjoying our walk around the area, our eyes alertly spying for interesting things to see (and eat). Old buildings, fudge shop, numerous eateries and craft shops - including one weird one that sold jewelleries & trinkets made in Indonesia. Weird, I thought they're supposed to sell local crafts, as in made in Cornwall, not Indo!

Originally we wanted to eat fish & chips. Got distracted, bought the scrumptious-looking Cornish pasties instead. I bought a normal-sized vegetable pasty. Hubby bought the biggest meat pasty available. It was HUGE, much bigger than the giant size that are normally sold as "extra large". I tried persuading him to downsize his order as he was supposed to be on diet. He didn't budge. Well, he's definitely Mr Greedy where food is concerned!

So. Food bought, we made our way to the waterside, hoping to find a seat where we can eat our pasties. The seats were full, so we decided to start munching on our food while strolling near the water. The view was absolutely stunning.
Hubby was happily enjoying his Jumbo pasty when suddenly, lo & behold, three docile-looking seaguls started attacking him. One swooped down from above, one from the front and one from the back. They were all aiming for one thing: the Jumbo pasty!! The attack was so sudden, so organized and so vicious, hubby couldn't defend himself.

Imagine the scene: the half-eaten pasty fell to the ground, hubby almost fell to the sea below, I screamed in shock as the seagul who attacked from behind came very close to my head, people nearby shocked by the commotions. Next, still in a daze, hubby was determined not to let the seaguls win, so he kicked the pasty to the corner, hoping the seaguls won't be able to pick his (now fallen) prized pasty. It went down to the sea instead, afterwhich the culprits merrily consumed their loot.

It was a really good home-video material, pity no one had their video on us at that time.

A man (possibly a local?) approached us and said, "I hope you're okay. This kind of thing makes me really angry. Not long ago I saw someone feeding the seaguls even though there are signs saying you're not supposed to do it. It makes the seaguls vicious." We nodded our heads in unison, feeling somewhat consoled that we weren't the only victims. Hubby was quite upset with the lost of his Jumbo pasty, so we went back to the fudge shop and bought a big bag of fudge.


Moral of the story: let this be a warning to you - in Cornwall, if you feel like eating takeaway fish & chips/cornish pasty/ice cream/whatever, please guard your food carefully. Especially if you're around the beach area. In case similar thing happens to you. Also, as a common courtesy to your fellow human beings, please do NOT feed the seaguls. It gets them into the vicious habit of snatching food from humans instead of eating what nature provides. We don't want "the crime against humanity" to spread further, do we?!

Post script: I did say to hubby, "Perhaps you weren't meant to eat that huge pasty anyway as you're on diet?" To which he replied, "Hm." As far as I know, he's still fighting a war against seaguls.

* the last picture was taken in Looe, not Fowey. I thought the picture fits in perfectly with the story. :)

11 comments:

Lydia said...

Seagulls can be really vicious, and they're huge too. Imagine if they went for a child eating something?

It really winds me up when people feed seagulls, and pigeons too in London. They're so disease ridden, and it just attracts rats.

I'm glad your husband wasn't hurt.

Music said...

Very true, Grace. If a big tall man like hubby could be attacked like that, it would've knocked a child over to the sea. Scarry.

Some people are just thoughtless, they think it's "fun" to feed those birds...

mizzworthy said...

Blinking heck - so hitchcockian - People always laugh at me when I say I's scared of pigeons and gulls - this tale perfectly demonstrates why! Vicious flying thugs!

Music said...

Too much reading mystery books. :) Don't even get me started on pigeons, I have an even BETTER horror story to tell!!!

Selina said...

Obviously the diet police are now recruiting seagulls for their healthy eating drives!

Anonymous said...

Ugh! Some people have nfi! I am glad that you and hubby are ok! xo

Music said...

@Rosie: oh well, the experience only scarred us for life! I wish I can poo on the seaguls as the revenge. Hehehe...

@Selina: Good point. :D The skuas at Auckland's Mission Bay were super polite compared to Cornish seaguls! Bah.

Selina said...

LOL - but the geese and swans at Western Springs are quite possibly the rudest birds I've ever encountered anywhere in the world!

Unknown said...

Thats the sort of thing that would have scarred me for life, I dislike birds near me anyhow ! If it had been me, I'd of got the fudge and another pasty after the ordeal, but then I'm greedy like that !

Anna said...

Poor hubby! That must have been really shocking, I'd still have nightmares! So I guess I was far far off when I commented about Daphne's & Alfred's birds! Oh, well...Went to London zoo, for some reason (I dislike zoos, I suppose we all do, really, and I don't know why they're still open to the public) and saw poor flamingos shivering in the cold and eating beetroots to keep their coat looking pink...not even shrimps, can you imagine??? You were miffed, don't deny it! :( xx

Music said...

@Anna: you got the right area, as that Money Copse picture was taken near Daphne's house! :D That was uphill from where the incident happened. Oh, did you donate some fish for those poor flamingos?

@Replica: I did offer to buy hubby another pasty. He was too traumatized to eat another one. :(

@Selina: I haven't ventured there yet. Thanks for the warning, I'll make sure I have a camcorder ready if & when I'm in Western Springs. :)

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