'Thank you in advance for the attention paid to these lines .....'

..... is how the letter began.

And I should have remembered it when, whilst having my second cup of coffee for the morning, I was out on the balcony (as is my wont) and glanced down to see ----

A strange man. ON the lawn. NOBODY is allowed on the lawn of the shared gardens. Even the gardeners don't linger any longer than they have to.

Narrowing my eyes like a suspicious pensioner, all I lacked were the net curtains. I did, however, have a camera.

He was young, smartly dressed with a quirky flat cap, busily talking on his mobile phone.

Every now and then he'd duck down by the tree and whistle - ah - he was wearing gloves and waiting for ......

.... his friend the falcon. Yes, the letter: 'According to the decision made by the joint owners at the last standard general meeting, we inform you that a falconer will proceed to the startling of the pigeons. Mr Umberto the falconer has started the last four weeks and will be followed by additional specific interventions which will last six months to optimise his work.' Thanks google translate.

Not that I ever seen that many pigeons about, let alone been annoyed by any of them.

Yep, he saw me. I called down, "Bonjour Monsieur! Photo, si'vous plait?"

"Oui!"

So how many of us have a falconer come to help with the gardening?