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At the restaurant in Trinidad (in Cuba) where I was having lunch there was a buffet. One of the many options along with fresh vegetables, seasoned meats, tossed salad, and fruit, was spaghetti. As is the norm in Cuba, the buffet was inside but most of the doors and windows were open to provide a cooling breeze. This meant that a few sparrows were having lunch too and one of the smaller birds thought it should have pasta. The sparrow reached down and plucked a piece of spaghetti from the centre of the mass and pulled hard. The piece was longer than it expected, so the sparrow had to flap to the edge of the table in an effort to pull the piece free. It was not to be. The bird dropped the end of the spaghetti on the table and hopped back to where it had started and pulled again on the same piece. This was a long piece of pasta, but the bird was obviously very hungry. It had to repeat this process three times before the spaghetti became free. Breathless with its work the sparrow took a brief rest and then flew off with the whole piece of spaghetti. Some things aren't meant to be. The pasta weighed the bird down more than it thought it would and unbalanced it as well, to such an extent that the sparrow was only able to fly around two yards before dropping its lunch on someone's handbag. The owner didn't notice until later. Undaunted and still hungry, the sparrow flew back and perched on the table by the pasta. It looked tired I was worried about its health as it had expended a lot of energy on the first piece. The sparrow pecked at the spaghetti. This piece was mercifully short I breathed a sigh of relief and the sparrow flew outside to eat. I hope this doesn't put you off Cuban buffets they are really good with a wonderful range of food. They can be really entertaining too. Have you ever seen a sparrow trying to eat a profiterole? Well I have. In Cuba.

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