Predator

The day passes uneventfully - things start to get interesting as evening approaches.

First, there’s a flurry of activity when we find that there’s water leaking into the neighbour’s bathroom beneath the Kinghorn flat. Claire’s In Glasgow, I’m in the Borders, and Lee is in Dunfermline - over the limit. A few phone calls and it’s under control, but now I’m nervous.

After dark, I hear commotion from the hens. Their under attack from something, but I intervene in time and it slopes away. Not a fox. Perhaps an opportunist young badger? I barricade the chooks into their house and hope for the best.

Then, at 11:30, famille Bannerman Rock up. Their arrival is expected - a call of despair after an abortive journey up the A1. I feed them gin. The snake, always an attention seeker, responds to their presence,