Not for sale!

I wandered over to the garden centre this morning to buy some more bird seed and decided to have a look at the plants. It isn't a very big garden centre but I love looking around at all the plants and never ceased to be amazed at just how many they have there. Despite the fact that it is fairly small compared to those that are out of town , they sell an enormous range including pots, garden machinery, composts and other various sundries so there is a very good choice for the gardener.
Now while I was strolling around poking my nose into all the plants, I was very tempted to buy a couple that really that really took my fancy but had to resist the temptation because my garden is very full at the moment. As Eden likes to put it when she comes down "Your garden's very 'flowerful' Grandma!" and she's absolutely right, it is. So I continued looking around with my hands in my pockets and that's when I saw it!
Perched on the top of one of the stands and just above my eye level, was a beautiful male blackbird with very glossy black feathers, a bright yellow beak and extremely bright eyes. He had obviously just finished having his morning bath in one of the display water features because the water was splashed everywhere and he was sitting there having a jolly good old preen. He looked at me as if to say "Who do you think you're looking at? Leave me alone to finish my preening!". Then he carried on with the job in hand. I stood and watched him, smiling, for a few minutes and then carried on my way.
I know the blackbirds nest in the garden centre and some of the staff put food out for them too, so it wasn't unusual to see one there and that it was reasonably tame. As I was on my way into the shop to get my bird seed I remarked to one of the young men that works there about the blackbird. He told me that it wasn't a very bright one because they had found three blackbird's eggs laid on a trolley out in the open and not in a nest when they came in this morning. I pointed out that it was a male blackbird and he laughed and said "If she left him in charge of the eggs, he hasn't done a very good job then!"
This must be at least a second or maybe even a third clutch of eggs so perhaps Mrs Blackbird was too tired to build another nest!