Do you want to set yourself a Herculean task?
Well to make things easier you may have a choice of two.
First choice is to climb Mount Everest without any mountaineering equipment, second choice is to keep pigeons as a hobby.
Now before you think that I have finally gone round the bend I would just point out that in recent months the obstacles put in our way, the ever-increasing regulations we have to meet and the dire warnings that are constantly being fired at us by our own people (myself included) could easily lead you to the conclusion that climbing Everest is the best option. Well is it not high time we got things into some kind of perspective before our hobby withers on the vine? Now I would be the last person to suggest that regulations can be ignored but what I would ask is that we keep a sensible balanced view rather than the possibility of being our own worst enemy by constantly fearing the worst and almost adopting an attitude of 'if the right one doesn't get you then the left one will'. If it is not AI it is animal welfare, if it is not the availability of show halls it is the cost of the hobby.
This week I read that once again certain experts are saying the stockpiling of the drug Tamiflu will be insufficient by itself to deal with any flu pandemic.
Just a year ago these experts were bemoaning the lack of Tamiflu and urging it be stockpiled to such an extent that people were buying it on the internet for exorbitant prices and in some cases without it even being the genuine article.
Of course nobody can ever give a guarantee that the doomsday scenario will not occur and therefore it is natural to suggest that more can be done. It really is a matter of keeping a balance. After all we could ensure no deaths on the roads by banning all vehicles but that would be well received, wouldn't it? (As an aside, what is the ratio between actual road deaths and deaths by AI.) To repeat myself, it is all about balance.
Similarly with animal welfare. Of course we must ensure that our birds are transported to shows in a proper way but if we have got a problem what about other show hobbies? I wonder how, for example, the dog showing hobby will deal with it. Remember, keep a balanced view.
On the question of cost, then we certainly do seem to have lost any sense of balance. I have looked through many old schedules and catalogues and compared entry fees and prices through the 1950s and 1960s to the present day. There is absolutely no doubt that our hobby is much cheaper than it was. The average weekly wage has gone up by a multiplier of about 100 times since the fifties, whereas entry fees have gone up by a multiplier of just 6 or 7! I know that other aspects of people's income and costs of living also come into play but there is no doubt our hobby is relatively cheaper. Not surprisingly we are not happy if prices and costs increase but we must be realistic. If anyone can produce valid facts/figures to show I have got this wrong then please do so.
