One creature that has all the time amazed me is the pet parrot. I remember when I was a child, we used to visit my aunt who had a pet parrot. The parrot was comical and impressively friendly. Loneliness has entered my life since the death of my hubby. While looking through some pictures the other day, I found one of me with my aunt's parrot. Whilst looking at the photos, I considered purchasing a parrot as a pet.

But, I did not know the first thing about caring for a parrot. All I do remember is my aunt saying time and patience were the key. Patience nonetheless is not my great point! I was certain though, that with excellent care a parrot would be ecstatic with me. I would give the parrot company and in return, it would become my friend. I decided that a visit to the library was in order first.

The library book was ideal, packed with ideas. It advised buying a big enough cage to allow the parrot to move around comfortably, to spread its wings. Day-to-day, I would need to place paper at the bottom of the cage. This would catch all mess and food. This wouldn't be a problem, I always have the hoover on standby. The book suggested buying toys to keep the bird entertained, a perch, food and a water bowl.

Various birds also like to take a wash in clean water so I should provide a small bird bath as well. Most importantly, it needed a varied diet to gain all the vitamins it needed. Certain grain foods, nuts, fruit and vegs are ideal things to feed them.

The penny dropped, keeping a pet parrot would be rigid work. It didn't put me off though as there was also the prospect of teaching it how to talk. Parrots enjoy to talk and hear human voices.

The next day, I went to the pet shop. A helpful assistant said he had just what I wanted, a gorgeous African gray. The assistant also gave me lots of other advice such as not to feed them avocado as this can straight away kill them. So I bought the cage, toys, food and water bowls, a few more books and of course the parrot.

My new parrot is called Dolly and she has turned out to be such a pleasure. Straight away, I sensed her warming to me and now we have such a deep bond. Much of the pointers, tips and hints that have been given to me came from the internet. I learned everything from how to feed them to how to keep them in high spirits.