I scamper over the floor and jump onto the counter. I say ‘Good Morning’ to the primroses and all the cacti on the window sill. The previously grumpy primrose returns my greeting – it is now a lot happier as it has another primrose for company. The cacti from my first ever litter tray are now enjoying the southern aspect of the sill and bristle their sharp spines in greeting.
I insert my svelte figure into the gap left by the open window and then climb down the trellis, almost completely covered by the Lancashire Rose, who has been refining her climbing technique. I place my paws in the gaps she has kindly left for me and I descend onto the grass or rather descend into the grass as the humans have let it grow rather long. The wind blows my fur and the branches are swaying making slight swishing sounds by way of greeting. I thank them in my mind.
I head towards Reg who is standing there along with Rob, Ron, Stan, Sid, Seb, Jacqueline, Brenda and two crows I don’t recognise. They look nice and have a mixture of dark-grey and deep-blue as the colour palette for their feathers. They look very smart and organised and might be from the crow police although I’m not sure where they keep their truncheons..
“Hello Reg, how are you? You have a welcoming committee by the looks of it,” I say smiling at all the crows. The grass has a slightly damp smell and its length means the crows appear to be floating on its surface like dark ducks on a pond covered with algae, which I saw recently on a nature programme.
“Well, Freddie, your fame is spreading far and wide and has come to the attention of our friends,” replies Reg.
“They’re our eleventh cousins, as it happens,” says Rob.
“How do you know that?” asks Seb.
“I spoke to Great Uncle Angus about it,” replies Rob, “many years ago a lot of crows were in the middle of the country and wanted to move. Some, like our ancestors, moved north, but some other crows, such as our eleventh cousins here, moved south.”
“I see,” says Ron, “chapter and verse from our genealogist Rob. The point is though Freddie we trust these birds and they have a suggestion for you.”
Julian Worker UK Blog 