Oct 6 2013

WPC: Good Morning – Cockadoodle doo


When we lived in Johannesburg, I did not have such good mornings. After a few years of really enjoying living in our home, the house next door to ours was sold. Our new neighbour kept Silkie cockerels in her front garden, right on the other side of the fence from our main bedroom. This was in a suburb with half-acre stands, so as you can imagine, when those roosters started crowing at the crack of dawn and more often than not, even earlier, it was impossible to stay asleep. There was hardly a moment during the day, when one or other of them wasn’t crowing, and it used to drive me nuts, especially as I’d been woken up at some ungodly hour. Their owner gleefully told us that she had been brought up on a farm, and absolutely loved the sound. She even gave a home to their friends’ Silkies whilst they were away on holiday. Now, whilst I love birds, I came to not love roosters one little bit, so when I was in London, and saw this sculpture of a giant blue rooster, by Katharina Fritsch, which had been erected on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, it brought back rather unpleasant morning memories.

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We decided to sell our house and move down to the coast. Our neighbour saw us as we were driving away for the last time, and said somewhat sardonically, “Goodbye. I do hope that there are no roosters where you’re moving to.” Thankfully, the only sound as we awoke in our new home, was the soothing sound of the Indian Ocean. We have very good morning walks along the beach, as the fishermen silently wait for the fish to bite.

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Our good morning breakfast is often eaten at a restaurant overlooking the ocean.

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The service might be a little slow, but no-one is in a hurry there.

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It’s always definitely worth waiting for. Yes, the mornings are very good there, and even though life here in Florida is wonderful, I have to say that I’m rather looking forward to getting back to those good beach mornings.

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I do hope I haven’t upset any rooster lovers. The neighbour across the road was much more considerate. He had a big Koi pond, and as you probably know, fish don’t crow at all. 🙂

To see more entries for the WordPress Photo Challenge, Just click here.

117 comments on “WPC: Good Morning – Cockadoodle doo”

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  5. The ibis hooligans are worse than any cocks! Don’t they do their thing at Umhlanga? 🙂
    Actually, I rather like the sounds of cocks crowing – they are ones I have had to get used to in UK when staying with the family. The fresh eggs make it worth it, too!

    • No we used to get them in Johannesburg, but only see a few in Umhlanga, and then only when we go walking along the promenade. Fresh eggs are great, but cockerels don’t lay eggs. 🙂

  6. I can’t say that I disagree as we had stayed with my hubby’s cousins in the country once and they had roosters. I could not sleep. They were crowing at night, too. I suppose it’s something one has to get used to. I much prefer the sounds of waves hitting the shore.
    Nice entry for the challenge, though.
    Izzy

  7. I remember all too well being awakened by roosters during our travels through Mexico. I am not too fond of them either Sylvia. 😉

    • It seems I’m not in the minority here, LuAnn. I half expected lots of ‘rooster huggers’ to be commenting here, but how wrong can one be? 😀

  8. “fish don’t crow at all” = I like your passage “I do hope that there are no roosters where you’re moving to.” -Thankfully, the only sound as we awoke in our new home, was the soothing sound of the Indian Ocean. We have very good morning walks along the beach, as the fishermen silently wait for the fish to bite…”

  10. I don’t blame you at all for feeling that way Sylvia as I would have felt the same. It’s strange that some people don’t have any consideration for others at all. If she so loved the ‘farm life’ she should have moved back to a farm and have her noisy animals there. I love all animals but not when they are noisy and that includes dogs, especially when they start barking at night when you are trying to sleep. I would surely not have appreciated her crowing rooster at all. Roosters and Silkies are beautiful but they do not belong in the suburbs where they can disturb other people hon. She should have been more mindful for sure.

    But I am glad you moved to the beach and I would love to be awaken by the sound of the waves for sure. It’s so beautiful there. Thanks for sharing this lovely post and photo’s hon. 😀 *hugs*

    • Thanks, Sonel. I so agree with you. It’s not the animals themselves that are a problem, but their inconsiderate owners. Thanks once again for your kind and thoughtful comment. 🙂 Hugs to you.

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  12. Roosters and barking dogs. Both I don’t tolerate. You did well to stay there as long as you did. Am glad you have the soothing sounds of the ocean to awaken to. 🙂

    • Thanks, Lynne. It was certainly an ongoing irritation which I was so glad to move away from. It’s really peaceful here where we live in Florida, but I miss the sounds of the ocean. had to buy a noise machine which emulates them. 😀

  13. No matter how nice a place is, it the neighbors aren’t, it’s time to move on. You did and it looks to me like you did very well. I bet those roosters would be jealous! 🙂

  15. cool statue…but…you know I completely understand…a couple of years ago I was staying in Key West for two weeks and if you know Key West you know there are roosters all over the place, but they do like specific locations better than others and as it happened this particular year the condo I rented was the “special” location for one of these fellows…so every morning I was woken up by this fellow right below my window…like you I wasn’t pleased…but he didn’t stay long…just long enough to wake me up! So…I understand and sympathize with you…;)

  16. I don’t mind them all that much. But then, it’s not easy to wake me – usually nothing does 😉
    Even though that blue hahn is just a hahn, it’s quite a magnificent piece of work – wish I could sculpt like that.
    As for your beach good mornings, way to go AD 😉

    • I’m a very light sleeper, which is a real pain sometimes. 😦
      Yes,I guess that sculptor got paid quite whack of money for her work of art. 🙂

  18. Sounds like it was definitely one … cock crow too many AD 🙂
    I rather like that Big Blue Cockerel haha
    Breakfast looks good … tummy rumbles …

  20. There was a rooster near my grandmother’s house that annoyed me. Twenty years later when i think of staying at her house I still think of that rooster. So annoying

  21. we a lot of comments..I wondered when I would arrive at the comments box to add my twopennoth….A Blue Cockerel on the fourth plinth..well I’ll be jiggered..some people have no sense at all….
    I agree with you about cockerills…funny enough our neighbour has one and I have never heard it..I just thought of that! Maybe it is no longer there.
    I think you made a very wise move, sea, sand and the smell of the sea..much better than city life…stay happy and content love Pxxxx

    • Thanks for persevering, Patrecia. 🙂 I put the newest comments at the top, but I guess the box still goes at the bottom. Sorry. 😳 Is it that dear old lady across the road who has the cockerel? Maybe it got eaten. 🙂 xx *hugs*

  22. I know the how it’s to wake up by a rooster – my grandma had one … a beautiful one, big and very majestic .. no blue. At least your neighbors had a good sense of humor … the day you moved out *smile – as everybody else I would love to have breakfast with an ocean view every morning for the rest of my life … and scramble egg I can live with too, but the salmon only now and then. Great entry to the challenge. *smile

    • Thanks, Viveka. When I was a child our neighbours kept hens and a rooster, but they were quite far away, and at night they didn’t crow, unlike these Silkies, who never stopped. Salmon is my best. 🙂

  24. That is one very blue cock lol When I used to go for holidays to my grans house she used to wake up when the cock crowed, the sounds still reminds me of her house.

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  29. Oh dear noise from neighbours can be a real problem, but here the environmental health departments of the local councils would step in and make them get rid of them if they are a nuisance.

    • We did try the council, as we’d seen a couple of rats running across the telephone wires, but they said there was nothing they could do as the by-laws did not forbid the keeping of these fowls. 😦

  30. Friends kept Silkies on a much smaller property than that, but they had a hok on the west side of the house that all the chooks were put into at night them heavy blackout material covered it over. They didn’t wake the neighbours, but they did keep the garden pretty clear of goggas.

      • They are, they like being adventurous but are considerate at the same time

        The hok at the west side meant the sun didn’t start to wake him for a while later.

        But oh, those evenings rounding up the chooks!

  32. The first thing that came to mind was Paul Bunyan, the lumberjack figure in North American folklore and tradition, and his blue ox! This rooster would fit right in!!! 🙂

  35. We live on a creek which is dry most of the time, and across the creek from us are homes on 5-10 acre lots. It’s an agricultural area, so we have all kinds of crops and critters. Unfortunately, someone bought one of the properties and decided to raise roosters 5,000 of them for fighting outside the U.S. It took a long time, but with some legal interventions, we finally got rid of the roosters. So I know exactly what you are talking about. They are annoying! 🙂

    • OMG, that would be my worst nightmare, Marsha! My little mind can’t even begin to imagine the cacophony they would make. Horrors! So glad you ousted them. Cock fighting is such a diabolical sport anyway.

      • I agree. Our neighbors did most of the work. The roosters were directly behind him. I contacted our local county representative, and he was unable to provide any help. So, we went the legal route, and that worked. Thank goodness! 🙂

  38. I can understand why it would be disturbing. My mom said her dad worked for the railroad when she was growing up in Italy. She said at first the train would keep her awake but after while she got use to it. I don’t think I could get use to a train or a rooster. At our primary home, we hear sirens – police, fire, and ambulance – all the time, living near one of the most dangerous cities in the US. It’s one of the reasons I like our shore house. Maybe a gull. Maybe some unruly waves at times, but I find those sounds relaxing. Maybe it’s the lack of a need for police presences.
    Breathe easy, ad.

  39. molto divertente la storia dei galli, io non ho esperienza di questi trambusti benché viva in campagna fortunatamente non ho vicini troppo vicini ha ha…ma chi ha scolpito quel brutto gallo blu?
    abitare vicino al mare può essere molto rumoroso quando si arrabbia, he he ( io ne so qualcosa)
    notte felice dalla tua maestra d’italiano 🙂

    very amusing history of the Gauls, I have no experience of these trambusti although live in the countryside do not have fortunately close too close ha ha … but who has carved that ugly blue rooster?
    living close to the sea can be very noisy when he gets angry, he he (I know something)
    night happy from your teacher of Italian:-)

  40. You needed to have a strategy Sylvia. Instead of “Beware of the Dog” on your front gate you should have put up the sign “Beware of the Fox” and say nothing when challenged. Your neighbours would have been running around like headless chickens, wondering !! 😉 hehe !!

    • Thanks for the belated advice, Ralph. We did consider borrowing a friend’s fox terrier which could probably have wormed its way under the fence. 🙂

  41. You certainly cannot sleep in with roosters living next door Ad we have 4 roosters here at the house sit we are presently custodians of, but they live right down the back so just a back ground noise that can be ignored

  42. I think I had some experiences with rooster alarm when I was younger. I did not have any bad impression about their alarm sound but I can understand that it is much much more peaceful to hear ocean sounds. It would definitely a worth trading off, IMO.

  43. That was a great response, Sylvia! Had me laughing ruefully 🙂 I don’t happen to mind morning roosters – and in fact if it weren’t for the cacophanous dawn chorus here I’d probably be missing my Sri Lankan neighbours’ early birds – but I can imagine how frustrating it must have been. Here, in nanny state Australia, people aren’t allowed roosters in town …

    • Thanks so much, Meredith. Roosters aren’t allowed in some residential areas in South Africa, but unfortunately our particular municipality didn’t have that ruling. 😦

  44. We had chickens and one rooster, but enough land that the rooster didn’t come near our bedroom. What I didn’t like was their scratching dug up just about every plant I tried to grow. The fresh eggs were good though. 😉 I fully sympathize because I’ve lived places where constantly barking dogs have interrupted sleep. That’s extremely difficult to put up with. But look where it landed you! As someone just said… a blessing in disguise?

    • I agree that you should have enough land if you want to keep farmyard animals and birds. They also had a pet pig and two very yappy dogs which they often left out at night. Not the most considerate of neighbours. 😦

  45. Delightful post, and I’m with you on the roosters. In August I agreed to dog-sit marvelous LabraDoodle. Marley (as in Bob) while his humans were vacationing in Florida. On the first very early morning walk Marley and I took, we came upon uproarious clamoring emanating from a rooster lording it over the Boston suburb, from a recently-erected chicken enclosure. I would not want to live on that block for sure!

  47. Goodness gracious….. What an ugly blue rooster….at least it does’nt crow.
    I do not blame you for feeling the way you did, I would have felt the same.

  48. Hubby received some bantams as a gift from a friend. The first morning they woke me, I put them in a box and passed them on to somebody else

  50. I was out early this morning (will soon post pics of my Good Morning!) and I saw something I have never seen here in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. A rooster was crossing the road. Now, I’ve seen cats, dogs, rabbits, and even deer crossing the road. But never a rooster.

    Fish are quite cooperative, aren’t they?

  52. Sounds like those roosters were a blessing in disguise. Looks like your views are much nicer & peaceful now.
    I have a neighbor with two annoying yappy dogs that bark at everyone & everything. If the economy were better I’d move too.

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