If you visit this  blog, or my Instagram or other social media, you might notice that I tend to share photos and videos of things which tickle my fancy, meaning that along with writing and books news, I have a fairly eclectic online presence. My Youtube offerings are no different. Although I have the videos you might expect an author to share – reading from my books, sharing poems, glimpses of appearances and so on, I also have just as many that are not book related – often snorkelling, dolphins or other beach wonders.

But, this week, I was alerted by an email that there was a new comment on a video I posted way back  in 2016.  The video, which I took sitting in Adelaide’s Rundle Mall features a beautifully coloured pigeon pecking around the mall, while a busker plays a banjo nearby. I titled it Dancing Pigeon.

 

To be honest, I’d forgotten about this video until the comment came by email. And the comment?

That bird did not dance

Now, when I looked at the account it came from, I’m pretty sure the comment is spam, but it did give me a chuckle.

It also alerted me to the fact that video has more views, by at least double, of all the videos I’ve shared.

Is it the incredible cinematography? (I think not)

The  amazing synchronisation of the bird and the music? (Again, I think not – as the commenter has above has pointed out, the claim of dancing is a bit of a long bow to draw, but hey, I’m creative!)

A worldwide fascination with or concern with pigeons? (Maybe – one of the few other comments on the video does point out that pigeons do not really belong in urban environments)

Or something else I’m missing?

 

I think it’s this latter. Someone – or some bot maybe – has shared the link to this video somewhere, or the odd title has resulted in unintended search engine hits, or something. I don’t know.

But what I do know is that, when I watch it, it still makes me smile, and I hope it makes other viewers smile too, however they arrive at the page.

And in the end, that’s what I hope to do when I write, or when I share films and photos, or when I speak to audiences. I want to make the world a better place.

I hope you have smiled today. And if you haven’t, here’s another of my videos that makes me smile every time I view it – an octopus shooting itself from a cannon (I wonder if someone will comment and tell me the octopus didn’t actually ‘shoot’ out’?) filmed on a snorkelling trip last year.

Thank you, random commenter. I’m sorry the pigeon didn’t really dance. But I hope the video made your day a tiny bit brighter. I filmed it at a really tough time in my own life, and I know that random pigeon made me smile then – and still does.