At times a good squawk shows how silly a fight is

Easter is a joyful time,

For everyone to share, Chocolate eggs and hot cross buns,

Spring-like everywhere. Keeping in touch with family, And through these difficult days,

Let’s remember the blessings of Easter,

And the hope that it conveys.

Cars were backing up in the car park. People were laughing, and taking pictures.

I went to see what the traffic jam was. Two seagulls had each other by the beak and were braced in a tug-of-war position.

Those webbed feet would move a couple of inches one way, then a couple of inches back and, judging by the crowd, they’d been at this for some time. They weren’t fighting over food, they were just fighting.

Then a larger gull (I can’t help thinking of it as a grandparent) swooped down on them, squawked loudly, and scared the fight out of them. People dispersed; the birds flew off; the traffic flowed again.

It made me think, though, that it seems like Man isn’t the only creature to fight his brother or sister for no good reason, but it was a good reminder of how foolish it looks from the outside – and how we need a good “squawking to” when we do it!

Andy is one of those rare adults who knows more about modern technology than his children.

He was setting up a new tablet for his daughter and needed to create a new e-mail address for her to finish the process. Since it was to be a birthday surprise, he couldn’t ask her advice on a password she would remember, so he typed in dadlovesme@..., hoping she would remember that and it might raise a smile whenever she typed it in.

But it was taken! “Imagine my frustration,” Andy told me. “But that was quickly swept away with the notion that someone somewhere had such a good relationship with their father that they used it as their password!”

So, he had to come up with another equally soppy password. Technology can seem pretty cool and impersonal at times. But, really, it’s as loving as we make it!

“I could tell I was in capable hands,” I said, rolling my sleeve back down.

“Do you know what I do in my ‘day job’?” the nurse asked. “I vaccinate babies. It always upset me when they cried. So, I have learned to be very gentle.”

I thanked her and reassured her that if I was going to cry, and there was no earthly reason why I should, I would do it outside. She laughed and said she would really appreciate that.

And so I left a very efficient and friendly vaccination clinic. But nurse Julie’s “day-job” stayed with me. Gentleness often doesn’t get the credit it deserves. But imagine practising it so much that you became so gentle you didn’t make babies cry when injecting them! Imagine we all practised towards such gentleness – minus the needles, of course – then we took it out into every walk of life.

“He’s an ordinary man,” Cathy told me, “with an ordinary job. We’ve never met.

“A bunch of us talk online and when I mentioned I was struggling with childhood traumas, he seemed to know what I meant. “We started private messaging and he was a huge help in my recovery.

“My fiancé knew this was happening, but didn’t know the guy’s second name for the first six months. Then he asked. I told him. Then he wanted to see his profile photo. Urgently.

“I was worried he might be jealous. But, no. He looked long and hard at the photo, then said, ‘He messaged me all night long when my wife died and I posted I was going to harm myself! He got me to call family for help.’” Just an ordinary man. Doing an ordinary job. And, in passing, it seems he loves and saves people he’s never met.