Living in the countryside doesn\u2019t leave much to the imagination. Meat is no longer an abstract concept that is picked up from the supermarket shelves. Rabbits are not just cute little animals but \u2018pests\u2019 from a farmers perspective and now even the arrival of little ducklings on the pond is going to seem a less innocent affair. There we were driving back up the lane we live on, it\u2019s single track so if you meet anything it\u2019s a problem. However, if that \u2018thing\u2019 consists of a drake pinning a female mallard down while he has his wicked way with her all you can do is sit in the car and watch until they\u2019ve finished. It\u2019s not a sight you get to see very often living in a city, for a start they\u2019d get run over but quite apart from that I don\u2019t think city ducks choose to do things like that in quite such public places.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think it was just because of the ducks, but I haven\u2019t been quite myself for the last couple of days. I\u2019ve wanted to sleep even more than usual and not been keen to go out. I\u2019m sure when it warms up again I\u2019ll be just fine, but I think my Mistress is just a tiny bit worried about me.<\/p>\n
We have Andy and Helen here for some of the next week. Then there are the friends they want to stay with or the friends they want to bring to stay here. My Mistress has given up trying to work out who will be here when, she is thinking of just introducing a card system by the front door where everyone leaves a little card to show whether they are in or out, but then as with all the \u2018little systems\u2019 she introduces, she is the only one who pays any attention to them.<\/p>\n
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