Pining

 It is quite clear that I am not fully accepted as a cat sitter. Yesterday evening, Jasper leapt onto my lap while I was watching TV, but after about 15 minutes, he decided I was not suitable and took himself off somewhere. When it was time for bed, he rushed down for a few bites of his dinner, and then, when I got into bed, he sat at the end of the bed, sphinx-like, glaring at me until he concluded that Diane wasn't around, and took himself off. To be fair, though, I didn't hear a peep from him all night.

I had a gentle start to the day. After breakfast, I cleared space in the garage so that the heating engineer could perform our annual service without hindrance. I then emptied the cupboard in the utility room to give him access to the tanks. With that done, I returned to my study. I had thought of an approach to debug my outstanding issue on "barnowl"... and an hour or two later, I was delighted to walk away with everything working as it should. 

I still had time before the engineer was due, so I went out for my first walk in a few days. The weather looked threatening, and though it was windy, it was quite warm. I was out for my usual hour or so (listening to my audiobook). It was nice to stretch my legs. I timed it well, as the rain started just after I got home. I grabbed some lunch and then went back to the study. It was time to rebuild "falcon", which had been offline for a little while. I made a start on that, pausing when the heating engineer arrived. He wasn't here for too long and gave us a clean bill of health. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon in the Orangery with my Kindle. I've heard from Diane and from Zoe. They have also sent lots of pictures. It is clear that they have selected well, and they are having a lovely time. 

Diane even spent time in their private pool this afternoon.