Magpie

I was later to breakfast than A today, so we teased Kermit mercilessly for trying to get me to give him a second breakfast. "Go outside and kill something, if you're hungry!" Within 30 minutes, he had a magpie in the hallway! Although he's as cruel as any cat, I was naturally rather proud of him: not just for having caught it,  but for having managed to get himself and the bird through the cat flap. I grabbed it with a towel and threw it out of the back door. Kermit followed immediately through the cat flap, that I locked to stop him bringing it inside again. Although it had disappeared from the area outside the back door by lunchtime, I fear that it was hopelessly injured, as it didn't fly off when I released it (or fly in the house). If so, I can hardly hope that Kermit finished it off humanely. I've killed maimed animals that he's brought in on a number of occasions, but this one seemed too "alive" to bring myself to do it - and I might have been wrong.

I went a bit further than the compost heap today, venturing to the post office to send the signed consultancy contract to China. Later the person who will be working as a subcontractor came up with some very encouraging results, and I counted my blessings.