An Alert and Enquiring Mind

It was always a prerequisite of being a BBC Radio Studio Manager (sound engineer) that we should be able to assimilate and accommodate new technology. This is currently true of our slow - and in this first week rather painful - switchover to a shiny new audio database. The system is the digital heart of the BBC's ability to share recorded material across the whole organisation, and to store and broadcast programmes. Until the end of September we're running the old and the new in tandem while the upgraded version is installed in all our studios and offices and the one we've been using for eight years is phased out. As I rapidly approach my mid-50's I have a feeling my learning curve is dropping off, but I'm not going downhill without a fight. I believe an alert and enquiring mind is an essential weapon in the battle with age-related memory loss, and I still like to wander off into the realms of Google and Wikipedia whenever the thirst for knowledge strikes.

This starling seems curious and alert enough to the world around him without resorting to search engines and reference books. He and his large family, who live in Cavendish Square in London, have learnt that when the sun shines lots of humans come and sit on the grass to share their sandwiches with the birds. He sauntered around and foraged within a foot of me, bold as brass, looking very bright and inquisitive. There were, of course, plenty of the ubiquitous pigeons about too. But the most surprising moment was when a magpie cantered across the lawns, very close to all the picnicking people and not the slightest bit afraid of any of us.