Basil gets his Christmas present

Could it be? Yes it could! A scrap of material purporting to be a squirrel. Basil seemed very happy.

We went to lunch at Alasdair and Christine's next door. Along with us, they were also entertaining Rahim, Fatima and Jasmine who are Iranians pursuing asylum status, and Sasha, an HGV driver from Belarus who has been stranded at the Junction 23 truck stop over Christmas.

After an excellent meal of poached salmon and saffron rice with an Iranian lamb stew, we played the Name Game. Alasdair and I were always being guessed. Sasha was particularly good at guessing.

Chris gave us a calendar of photos that she'd been taking of green doors, several from Calke Abbey. The question  now is where to put it.