Partridge update

They seem to have taken up at least part time residence, especially since they found they could shelter under the plastic anti-deer chair that blocks the gap in the hedge. (Great debate as to whether they'll nest there and whether Mr C will have to disguise himself as a partridge in order to cut the lawn.) They've also ventured half way up the garden.

Says my Ros, "Did we buy a zoo here?"

Orlando musing about cricket

It's the time of year when I get working properly on the next Jonty and Orlando. This one's inspired by J M Barrie's cricket team (as per the excellent book "Peter Pan's XI"). Himself is thinking about cricket.

Orlando had always believed the main appeal of this particular sport lay in its being such a wonderful example of mathematics in action, beginning with the elegant simplicity of the scoring system, with a beautifully kept scorebook being one of the most lovely of manmade objects, as much a work of art as a Turner or Rembrandt. On the other end of the scale was the impenetrable mystery of why the ball turned in certain ways, in certain atmospheric conditions. One day maybe science would catch up with the game, and produce an elegant equation that would predict the movement of the ball to off or leg, but for the moment all was shrouded in obscurity and resembled little less than magic.