Dumb insolence

"Why yes," he seems to be saying. "I am playing with one of the baubles from the Christmas tree. And my makeshift bed is, in fact, a pair of the children's school trousers. And there's still nothing you can do about it."

One year on, the no-longer-a-kitten is as insolent as ever.

But let him have his small satisfactions.

After all, these days he has no other balls he can play with.