February 4th
On the day that I came home to a letter from Maria Miller (with a House of Commons Crest on the envelope) commending me on my energetic pursuit of potholes in the Village I almost bit off more than I could chew.
After sorting out a suitable frame for the letter and leaving it for Spencer to mount on the wall later, I hurried off to Tesco to do the weekly shopping. I was indeed a little rushed, as I first had to feed many animals in my Facebook virtual reality zoo, which is expanding exponentially at the moment. As I mentioned last week it does seem to be taking up rather a lot of my time and, as Spencer noticed, the silverware didn’t get polished at all last week. Arriving back a little late, at 10 to 5, I was confronted with a kitchen full of feathers, a blackbird flapping about in the scullery, and Pablo, the rescue cat licking his lips.
I cleared up the mess in the kitchen, and have to admit to leaving the bird in the scullery for Spencer to deal with on his return from his Job of National Importance. I did rather think that it might have flapped its last by then. However, I was proved wrong, and Spencer gently put it in a box and placed it in the middle of a thick Pyracantha bush in the lane, where it would have to take its chances.
As Spencer returned to the Manor with the empty box, Pablo followed him in through the front door, with a live mouse dangling from his mouth. He then proceeded to let it go whereupon it promptly scuttled behind the dishwasher and refused to come out. Three hours later, with the kitchen in total disarray- the dishwasher in the middle of the floor and all the cupboard unit plinths having been removed, Spencer finally caught the blighter.
As he remarked dryly as he let the mouse free in the orchard, “well you can’t tell Pablo off- he is just trying to help you expand your Zoo!”