Welcome to my blog, where I take pleasure in words and pictures, be they my own or those of others. I'm a creative individual, and the crafty side I explore on my 'other blog', Picking Up The Threads, which I hope you'll visit too. I'm sure you understand that I have sole copyright of my original work and any of my contributions, so please ask if you want to use them. A polite request is rarely refused. So, as they used to say on the BBC's 'Listen With Mother' radio programme, many years ago: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin."

Saturday 20 June 2015

Infinite Budgie Theorem


"The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.” (Wikipedia)

Here’s our budgie, Pippin, putting this to the test (for monkey, read, budgie) at Christmas 1993. It’s not a typewriter of course, because we had moved on to computers by then. The computer itself almost dates the picture, as its an Amstrad PC and a rather clunky keyboard, typical of the times. Ive sepiarised them for fun and because the picture quality is so poor.


 Pippin also helped me out when, during my first Headship, I brought a school computer home to prepare some work for the children (no laptops then).  Thats not the result of his efforts on the screen however.

To distract him my son placed one of Pippins toys on top of the computer, so that I could get on with some lesson preparation in peace.

Pippin was very inquisitive and would help with any activity the family were involved in. Pippin Helping became  a family catch phrase. He would help' with jigsaws, by turning over all the pieces back to the blank side. He would ‘help' by grabbing my sewing needle and trying to pull the thread through. 














He would help my daughter by tidying her hair ribbons and ensuring she hit the right notes in her recorder playing. 




 He liked to check that the salad was thoroughly washed and that there was no leftovers in the cereal bowls. Any empty crisp packets were ‘tidied up’ by being marched to the corner of the table and dropped over the edge. Pippin also liked to groom anybody who was willing to sit still long enough. 


What he wasnt very good at was helping with any writing. He never wrote a report or assisted with homework. No matter how many keyboards he was allowed to run along, he never produced anything worthy of a mention. 









He certainly inspired us all to write our own memories when he died in August 2000. He’d been part of the family for ten years and his antics were a source of joy to us all. 


Fly over to this weeks Sepia Saturday today and see what this old image of a typewriter has inspired others to post.

15 comments:

  1. I'm sorry he never produced anything of note. I was hoping to see some of his work. I can't imagine a bird flying around my house helping out :O

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  2. What a lovely Family companion for 10 yrs..missed by all I'm sure!! Lovely photos too.XX T

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  3. Dear Pippin - what a sweet budgie. I still miss our budgie Tweetie and how she used to sing when we turned the tap on. You have lots of great photos here.

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  4. Pippin was a charmer, wasn't he? That's great...I, too, had a bird -- a parakeet -- that loved to cook (liked to sit on the top of whatever utensil you were holding). They're wonderful companions!

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  5. Budgies can be quite the characters, can't they?! Pippin sounds like he was certainly more helpful than my cat who merely sat on every jigsaw puzzle piece she could get her paws on!

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  6. You made me laugh with this one! Didn't Pippin ever give dictation?

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  7. What is it with parakeets & pushing things to the edge of something & watching them fall? All my birds did that - especially with the flatware on the dining table. But parakeets/budgies can be so much fun & mine loved to cuddle. I really enjoyed this post. :)

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  8. Pippin didn't dictate (except in the sense of getting us to do things for him) , but he was a great talker and a fully paid-up member of the family.

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  9. We had a parakeet/budgie (Dutch: parkiet) but we also had a cat, so letting the bird out of his cage was not an option most of the times.

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  10. I wish the parakeet we had had been as much fun as your bird. Ours never got out of his cage and didn't even sing.

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  11. Loved reading about Pippin! What a little character, and sweet the way he wanted to be involved in everything. Great to have lots of photos of his antics!

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  12. What a helpful little fellow! We had a canary for about 17 years, but all he did was sing, and he was generally kept in his cage unless he managed to escape when someone left the door open by mistake. I read that a canariy's best singing years are the first four, and this proved to be true, as he definitely sang less and less as the years went on.

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  13. Growing up, I had friends with parakeets and always thought they would be fun to have around. Pippin must have been quite the comedian.

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  14. Quite a character, even if he never got any work done.

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  15. It's no wonder that poor Pippin couldn't get any writing done. He was way too busy with music, fixing hair, checking out the salad, and keeping you on task. Such a great fellow - and a great post.

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