Tom brings us a sparrow

Tom came running into our bedroom yesterday morning full of the joys - and with his mouth full of a live bird, a wee sparrow. When he heard our cries of dismay he ran under the bed and let go of the bird, which started flying around the room; there were feathers everywhere. We opened the window wide and tried to usher it out, but at that point it panicked and dived behind the wardrobe. We were worried that it might be stuck there because there is only a very narrow space between the wardrobe and the wall, and without moving both of the very heavy wardrobes we couldn’t reach it. Tom was sent into my study in disgrace; he knew that we were annoyed with him because of all our shouting so he skulked under the bureau and stared out balefully.

A little while later I went into our bedroom and there was the sparrow standing in the middle of the floor looking at me. I was relieved that it wasn’t trapped for a slow death behind the wardrobe. I slowly crossed the room so as not to scare it and opened the window again, and, after some silly flapping about, it got the idea and flew out to freedom, like a little arrow into the light.

After going for a very sunny swim, the weather having turned almost Mediterranean today, I spent the afternoon doing a bit of cooking before Heather and Ewan came round for dinner. Tom was still lurking upstairs, in a bad mood about our lack of enthusiasm for his bird friend, but when were having afternoon coffee in the garden he appeared outdoors and we were reconciled. Who could stay angry at that furry face? 

We had a lovely evening dining and chatting with Heather and Ewan. I was quite pleased with the meal; I should have served smaller portions of the starter, and I think that the crumble should have been crispier, but apart from that it went well.