Mary chicken still keeps getting out and I have no idea how. Having been an only chick, she’s still a bit of a loner and so at least the others seem to have given up on escaping. There is one other out, who I accidentally let out a few days ago – Mary comes in again but this one just won’t. There is a coop she spends time in and I might have to shut her in there and then catch her when she’s asleep. We have searched the chicken greenhouse inside and out and can find no gaps at all, it’s a complete mystery. The total perimeter of the greenhouse is about 33 metres – corrected because, as Blue Witch pointed out, I invented a ludicrously wrong measurement – (40 feet by 14 feet, so 108 feet if you prefer) so it’s not really feasible to keep an eye out, especially as Mary gets out in the early morning. I will have another search though. I need to clean out the hen house next week again anyway and will keep my eyes open while I do it.

Having moved around a lot of the furniture indoors, I can’t face doing it again for a Christmas tree, so I’ve suggested to Tim that we saw a branch or two off one of the Scots pine trees near the road and attach it to a beam. We did that once, many years ago, and it was quite effective. We wouldn’t bother at all if it weren’t for two small children coming here for Christmas (youngest grandson’s school closed a fortnight early so they haven’t ‘mingled’).

Later. We’ve cut off two minor branches, which wasn’t the easiest thing as they were slightly higher up than was comfortable to stretch, but it was achievable. They’re languishing on the grass now and we’ll move on to the next stage tomorrow, probably. At least, with the Johnson last-minute change of rules, we can still have the Christmas day we’d planned. I’d be mildly irritated if I’d ordered a 4 kilo joint of meat, only to find that there are three of us to eat it.

We have had very good news, in that Wink has a date in January for her hip replacement. She’s really struggling to manage now, limping heavily and in great pain, with intermittent spasms that I remember too well from when I was in that situation. It’s a peculiar thing. You can be quite pain-free at one time and then, suddenly, it’s agony. Or the hip suddenly gives way and you stumble, which jars and you’re scuppered for the rest of the day. We’re looking after her and so glad that we can. Moving here was such a good thing at this time, for her but for us too.