A Pigeon Tax

I am angry and upset. And with no power to bring about any change to what I perceive as very unfair and unloving behaviour.

My mummy has been trying to explain to her mother, Elena, that the reason why mummy is unwell so often is primarily due to her immune system being compromised as a result of having been infected with a parasitic infection picked from the many pigeons that Elena has been feeding for years. This systemic infection is very difficult to get rid of if at all. The answer mummy gets is that it cannot be true, it is all rubbish, and that pigeons are wonderful and carry no disease whatsoever. This is too bad. Something needs to be done so that these flying rats get evicted for good. We can do without their droppings, mites and all other diseases that have made it impossible to even visit our old childhood home in Corfu.

Apparently, Venice is trying to get rid of the birds as it costs them a lot to clean the historic buildings. Congratulations! Pigeons in large and uncontrolled numbers are dangerous. What about introducing a municipal charge, a pigeon tax? All residents of the city should have to pay it and indeed it would be a good idea to use the money collected to clean the streets, pavements and squares of this beautiful but dirty city! And it would be very easy to collect to if it was added to the electricity bill; no way to escape paying it.

I wonder whether UNESCO who have recently nominated the old town of Corfu as a ‘world heritage site’ can do something about it and press the municipal authorities with cleaning up and educating people about the dangers of feeding pigeons. In addition, I would recommend the imposition of very heavy fines to anybody that feeds pigeons at their balcony, terrace, window sills, on pavements etc. And this would certainly apply to Elena. A financial disincentive might work better when one is faced with obstinacy that borders lunacy.