early this morning

Better described as extremely late last night, walking back from a very select poker club which is minutes from Victoria station, feeling perfectly content on a crisp very early morning, we saw a fox!

He ran from the direction of the bus station to the pavement opposite where we were walking then stopped for long minutes on the pavement. Perfectly poised, just looking at us as foxes do, turning now and then to glance quickly into the park as if he wasn't sure if he should go in there or run off.

We both stood as still as the fox did, afraid to speak loudly or move suddenly in case he flicked, faster than thought, into the bushes of the gated park behind him.

I tried to get a picture on my phone camera, but I'm not used to using it and the pictures I have are a reminder rather than a reflection of how perfectly wonderful he looked. Amazingly, he didn't even tense as I slowly moved closer between the parked cars next to us. I didn't dare move more than a few feet towards him but he seemed to become only a little more alert, not even tensing for flight. We stood watching him for minutes, feeling privileged as he sat down, checking back at us now and then, but still not moving away.

Mark whispered he thought there must be a cat in the park, stopping him going in. Eventually the fox slipped through the railings into the park flashing a white mark on his flank, possibly a scar from some ancient fight. He walked almost gingerly a few feet along beside the railings then froze as another fox appeared from the bushes inside the park. We watched as they looked at each other for a short moment, then the first turned purposefully and trotted out between the railings and back across the road from the direction he had appeared. Moving into fast-forward half-way across the road in the moment it took us to look back to see if the second fox was still there.

We had time to see the second fox stand for a second or two more, until it turned silently and disappeared back into the park, leaving us delighted to have shared that moment. Maybe it was a vixen, maybe a dogfox, but the park is obviously marked territory.

It was more than one of those moments, it is a memory to treasure.