I bloody hate pigeons.

If there's one thing I hate about London, it's the pigeons. Mostly, I accept that they are really an almost integral, iconic part of London but can't they just leave me alone?

It started a couple of years ago when I seemse to see dead pigeons everywhere. On one occasion, I was on the phone telling my friend that I was freaking out because I was seeing dead pigeons everywhere and while I was telling her, I SAW A DEAD PIGEON!!

From then on, I couldn't really cope with pigeons, alive or otherwise. More recently, my neighbour below me decided to start feeding them from her window. At first, I put up with it because I just thought maybe she had some extra cereal or crumbs to get rid of. As it turned out, it wasn't a one off, it became a regular occurrance and it got to the point where pigeons were waiting, lurking outside the flat waiting for her to open her window and flinging cornflakes out onto the street for them.

I live on the second floor, at the same level as the lamp on the streetlamp outside. The streetlamp is where the pigeons would wait, clubfooted and staring for the cornflakes. They sit there in a line, waiting for their free meal. Then, their confidence grew and they started sitting on MY window sills all the while defiling them with their diseased shits. So whenever me or one of my flatmates walked near the window or opened the window, we became a pigeon target and they would fly at us in their infinite stupidity and quest to satisfy their hunger.

After a while, I got paranoid that they were going to end up flying into my flat, flapping around and keeling over which would be my worst nightmare. T and I were away for about two weeks back in September on a trip to Canada. When we came back in the morning, walking up the road to my building there were about 20 pigeons on my window sills. I was so annoyed, not only that but by this time, other birds were getting in on the action as well, I think they were ravens. When I see pigeons in groups like that, I just feel like they're plotting something. I don't know why my neighbour decided to feed them like this, maybe she's just seen Mary Poppins one too many times (love that movie).

Fact is, they were pooping on my window sills and the food all over the pavement would surely only lead to more offensive vermin like rats coming in close proximity to the building. Eventually I asked her to stop feeding them and she's stuck to it for which I'm grateful. Although part of me misses the daily battle against the pigeons, it's a relief that they've more or less gone.