THE FAST LIFE

by John Clements

There are a number of people who have to operate on high octane fuel all the time. This is a phenomenon of modern life when most families have cars, televisions, washing machines and the gadgets that go with them such as the big screen TVs, the remote, the computer game and the mobile phone. Life is not static these days, it is mobile and fast  we don’t even have to physically unlock our cars with the old fashioned key anymore, we can do it ten yards away as we come out of the supermarket.  I am waiting for the next device the one that will start your car up for you at a distance before you even get in it so that you can drive away faster than other shoppers. I am sure it will come.

This high speed, super octane life has infiltrated itself into pigeons. Some fanciers live in this super fast mode training, racing, feeding, cleaning out, clocking all at high speed. It is almost as if they have to fill in each second of their time with action. The remark that always goes with this kind of thinking is: “we don’t want homers, we want racers”.

Of course as always there is a price to pay for an absence of reflective thinking. Many now find it difficult or even impossible to plan. Planning is not thought of as being an essential part of pigeon racing anymore, so people now buy pigeons without a plan - they race without a plan - they run clubs without a plan… and they do it all at breakneck speed as if they were playing a computer game of scoring points for killing as many of the mortal enemy as they can.

The rise of ‘chat sites’ for pigeons is another part of it just as Facebook and Twitter are there for small talk and multitudes of followers so are ‘chat sites’ for pigeons. Anything reflective in the way of an overview or future plan is hardly ever discussed. Most is instant reaction at speed to what is happening and in the news at the time, without much thought and certainly without even a tiny bit of homage to history.  

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Elimar - October 2014