July 6. Day 187. Avoid the beak

I did not make this up. There's a Spanish proverb "Avoid a friend who covers you with his wings but destroys you with his beak". This makes me think of my neighbour Margaret. I know she doesn't mean it. I know she considers she has taken me under her wing but sometimes the things that come out of her mouth bite. It's that beak I should be avoiding. Today it was mandarins. I do Margaret's shopping and her list said mandarins so I bought mandarins. They were "disgusting" and "really dry with no juice". What did she think should happen to this hideous fruit? She gave it to me and told me to eat it. Yes, because I love dried out fruit. But it gets worse. She told me Woolies has big, juicy mandarins on sale. Clearly my bad for shopping at Coles ... except for one small detail. The reason I shop at Coles is because Margaret demands it. The birds in our street apparently only eat Coles mince. Groan. Of course, I could refuse. But that's not my style. I whinge a bit a lot but can you really hold a grudge with someone you know doesn't mean it? And we wouldn't want to deny the birds their choice of mince now would we?