Our main door lies adjacent to the stairs, which is accessible via a fire retardant door.

As you can imagine, the stairs are seldom used since they are mainly there to function as fire escape. Or in the unfortunate case of lift breakdown, then some people may indulge in forced vertical marathons, god bless the poor souls on the the 30th floor!

Donna and I use the stair several times a week. We typically start our morning walks going down the stairs, per recommendation of the doctor to exercise the strength and flexibility my nerve paralysed toes.

I can count on one hand the staircase landings that actually get frequent use, as evidence by cigarette butts, dirty track shoes and impromptu pot gardens. My own blighted wrightia religiosa was and is still banished here after I give up on the fight against the scale insect and its various cronies. Surprisingly, the plant survives to today despite my lack of TLC for it. It must thank the heavens for the constant rainwater it gets I suppose. I left it by the window opening of the staircase.

Anyway, back to the fire retardent door that lies adjacent to my front door. I’ve heard concerns from other people before, how this is potentially a safety hazard. Perhaps robbers can hide behind the door to ambush you when you return home and are busy opening the door, etc. But I seldom look through the glass panel to check really.

The other day, we came back from our evening walk and I saw a movement from a corner of my eye so I looked and found…

A fat pigeon.

It appeared somewhat disoriented as it kept turning in circles.

Perhaps it noticed me staring, I don’t know. But I stayed long enough to assure myself that it could walk in straight lines and it could flap its wings to go up one step before Donna and I stepped into our house.

It’s too bad Donna’s short so she can’t see the pigeon (haha!) because it was gone the next morning.