| 1 | 1 | | When a budgie1) dropped out of nowhere onto the shoulder of a woman strolling |
| 2 | | through a park, she was greatly surprised: it had blue and white feathers and ... a bright |
| 3 | | red face. |
| 2 | 4 | | There was only one thing to do. She called on Alan Moon, the Sherlock Holmes of |
| 5 | | the budgie world. 'Can you trace its owner?' she asked. |
| 3 | 6 | | Alan knew of a local factory where the girls in the first aid room kept a budgie. It |
| 7 | | had a habit of sitting on their shoulders and waiting for a kiss. That's why its face was |
| 8 | | usually covered in bright red lipstick. Alan took the budgie to the factory and, sure |
| 9 | | enough, it proved to be the girls' much-loved pet. |
| 4 | 10 | | It was all in a day's work for Alan, who has been running the Missing Budgies |
| 11 | | Bureau for the past 30 years. The chief aim of his labour of love is to return lost budgies |
| 12 | | to their owners. |
| 5 | 13 | | Alan, a 69-year-old retired power station worker, is a budgie fanatic. Not |
| 14 | | surprisingly, he's been secretary of his local budgie society for more than a quarter of a |
| 15 | | century. In a back-garden cage he has 60 budgies of his own. |
| 6 | 16 | | Since he opened the bureau he has dealt with 2,300 cases of lost budgies. He has |
| 17 | | returned more than 800 to their owners. About 250 have been presented to the finders |
| 18 | | after a fruitless search. The others have been found new homes. Alan owes his success to |
| 19 | | his detection system. |
| 7 | 20 | | If a budgie talks, Alan listens carefully to everything it says. If the budgie enjoys |
| 21 | | performing tricks - like walking upside-down - he makes a detailed note in his black |
| 22 | | register. Alan's files mean that when somebody claims 'That budgie is mine', he can ask |
| 23 | | relevant questions. 'What are its pet phrases?' he asks. 'And what are its favourite tricks?' |
| 8 | 24 | | After taking charge of one budgie, Alan was visited by two women each claiming: |
| 25 | | 'That's my Joey.' He said to the women: 'What does your budgie do when you shout hi s |
| 26 | | name?' One said: 'It flies onto my shoulder.' The second said: 'It sits on my finger.' So |
| 27 | | Alan put the women to the test. The budgie flew onto the second woman's finger - and |
| 28 | | even kissed her on the lips. |
| 9 | 29 | | Recently a budgie flew through the window of a restaurant where guests were |
| 30 | | sitting down to a wedding reception. It landed on the table right in front of the bride and |
| 31 | | bridegroom. A waitress picked it up, popped it into a box and later took it to Alan's |
| 32 | | home. The couple told Alan that if he couldn't trace the owner, they'd be overjoyed to |
| 33 | | keep it themselves. |
| 10 | 34 | | 'Unfortunately,' says Alan, 'it was sick. I spent a week trying to cure it, but in the |
| 35 | | end I had to put it to sleep. In the house I had another lost budgie whose owner I |
| 36 | | couldn't trace. I gave it to the bride and groom as a wedding present.' |
| 11 | 37 | | In the world of Alan Moon, all budgie stories have a happy ending. |
| | | |
| | | from 'Weekend', November 12, 1986 |
