wasted time (28-01-26)
Wasted time
18% of adults would still smoke now, in 2025. The majority of them ladies. Well, 'in my time' it was different. At staff or family parties, there was a glass filled with cigarettes on every table. The result: a bluish smoke in the room that would make even the infamous F side of Ajax 'supporters' jealous. 'Teachers who didn't smoke were sissies.'I didn't want to be part of that and, like most colleagues, I also puffed away in class. Like James Dean we adored as a child at the time.
At that time, 90 percent of the adults smoked, a percentage that was possibly even higher among pigeon fanciers.
REAL YOUNG
As a 13-year-old I went to the club with the clock after the race. At least if 'we' hadn't performed well.
If a good result was suspected, my father went himself. Then it was guessing what time he was back.
-Fast back meant 'it wasn't what we expected.'
-Late back meant well played.
-Very late back and preferably a bit drunk meant VERY well played. Then he came home sipping on a cigar the size of a lamppost. By the way, about smoking and cigars: I still know the names of the fanciers in the club who didn't smoke in my teens. They were eccentrics. Four in total. The number of over 100 fanciers that are left in my hometown is little greater.
WRESTLING
January was the 'month of suffering' for many every year.
Countless people who had resolved to quit smoking could walk up the walls. But that didn't last long. Barely a month later, nothing had changed and they smoked as before. I am one of those who stopped many years later. And since then I don't have to use expletives anymore if I can't find that very thin 'bow' with which cigarette packets were sealed.
CLOSED !
Why do we pack so many things in such a way that they can hardly be opened or removed?
Such as those black plastic garbage bags of which you can't find the perforation wall. Jars with 'child-friendly' screw lids have often annoyed me, not to mention those evaporated milk cups. How much time I wasted prying that tab loose to get the evaporated milk right in my face.
The foil on a jar of peanut butter is equally disastrous. So firmly attached that a knife has to be used that is so sharp that it is better to buy a first-aid kit as well. Like a can of herring in tomato sauce.
I have made up for those countless wasted hours by no longer losing useless time with 'the pigeons'.
LEARNED
For many years I worked with a double set of drinking troughs. One in the loft, the other was drying upside down. The idea was to keep trichomoniases away. Those pathogens (protozoa) multiply in (especially warm) water. And indeed, since then there has been little trouble with trichomoniases.
Because I was so smart with that double set of drinking troughs? No, not at all. Because later I heard from fellow sportsmen that canker was hardly a problem for them either. And they had NOT worked with a double set of drinkers.
TOSSING
But I learned to save more time.
Similarly, if you are going to 'toss', it is best to wait at least 5 minutes before opening the baskets. Pigeons had to be given some time to orientate themselves. Sounds reasonable, so I did.
But it soon became only 3 minutes of waiting, then 2, then 1. Until the day came that, once arrived at the 'release point', the baskets were immediately taken out of the trunk and immediately opened.
No difference with those times when I waited for minutes.
LIGHT AND DARK
Also take 'lighting'. Like almost everyone else, I start lighting about ten days before coupling at the end of November.
Because I am rather quick-witted (😉) I thought 'what if I would do that with the cocks alone?' Because that's just how I am. Stubborn and doesn't want to know anything about hearsay.
And again, no problem with breeding with only the cocks that were lighted.
Lifting the darkening in young and also releasing it is another thing. Following the logic, you should do that gradually. So that they can get used to the daylight. I didn't pay attention to it. When it was the time for that (early June), the curtain was lifted from one moment to the other.
Many do the same, but here the window also opens immediately. So young birds who were still in the dark half a minute earlier got in the air. Again; No problem.
FEEDING
Ludo Claessens found feeding the least important thing in pigeon sport. Maybe a bit exaggerated but the fact is that nowadays in more and more pigeons of top racers get the same food all year round.
A bit of this, two bits of that and different every day? I have never been concerned with such a thing. Not to mention half a percent more or less of this or that.
The breeders were even fed only once a month. In a so-called self-filler. Also saves effort and time.
RINGING
Running to the loft every time to ring youngsters is also a thing of the past. When the pigeons are on eggs, rings are hung on the breeding box for each couple. To ring when I am still in the loft anyway.
CALLING
And then all that calling during a lousy flight:
'Hello ma'am, with S. Is Pete around?
Who am I talking to?
With S. Is Piet around?
Pigeons are getting home from a race.
I know, but can I speak to him for a moment.
Ok. One moment. A moment of silence, then: Hello with Piet.
A bad race for you too?
Man stop it, I only have 2 of the 12. Oh then I can't complain. Have 3 out of 14 now. The next day all birds were home.
What a waste of time those conversations as they always were. Nowadays a look at the mobile phone is enough.
In the past. One set outside to dry, the other set inside.
‘