What’s a peckish squirrel to do on a bright spring morning other than head down to Gordon Square to share a McDonald’s with a hungover student?
This one was being fed the odd chip by his new human chum when I visited the Square recently.
Sharing a McDonald’s
The student, whose name I forgot to ask, had enjoyed a good drink the night before and was sitting in the Square, gathering himself and self-medicating with McDonald’s when the squirrel approached.
“He came quite close so I threw a chip in his direction,” said our under-graduate. “He picked it up and quickly gobbled it down. So I chucked him another one. Here,” he continued. “Watch this.”
The squirrel scampered over to the bench and then leapt up on to the seat next to the student, who was offering him a chip. The squirrel edged along the bench and then nicked the chip and was away down onto the little wall. He held the chip in two paws in front of him like a deep fried saxophone before very smartly nibbling it to nothing, from the top down.
Wishing them both well, I continued my walk around Gordon Square, which is a fairly recent addition to the city, having been laid out by Thomas Cubitt in the 1820’s. It is a pleasant place to pass a while in, especially on a lazy Sunday morning when the skies are as blue as an Italian football shirt.
I admired the trees and the Georgian buildings that were home to various members of the Bloomsbury set and paid my respects to the statue of Noor Inyat Khan, the British agent who went behind enemy lines during the second world war and who was captured, tortured and died in Dachau. A different time, a different place. Remembered here.
Noor Inyat Khan, war hero
IF YOU ENJOYED THIS, WHY NOT SUBSCRIBE?