Viv - forgive me if I'm teaching my granny to suck eggs, as they say but you
have checked the cat flap batteries, haven't you? I only ask because my poor LK spent a similar night outdoors about a month ago when I failed to notice the little battery warning light. Also, check the entrance to the flap: sometimes, the little sensor that reads the microchip gets clogged up with cat hair and general dust and grot from the atmosphere. The other thing that happened a few weeks earlier was on the internal flap between kitchen and conservatory. That one isn't microchip operated and the cleaning lady must have caught the slider that opens/locks the flap with her broom and a baffled LK was stuck in the conservatory! (At least she has food, water, a bed and a litter tray out there!)
Good morning all. It's fine here but very cold. When I've had my coffee, I'll put my woollies on and go out to clear up the remaining oak leaves from the front. I did the back yesterday but my shoulders hurt from the weight of the leaf vac so i left the rest for today. Penny - your comment about being surrounded by trees made me think of our old house where we had a big old ash tree in the garden and houses immediately around had ash, sycamore, lilac and laburnum. In 40 odd years, I never felt the need to own a leaf vac. I'd sweep the path occasionally but the leaves just fell on the garden and quietly composted themselves. Because the leaves here are oak, they have a texture like shoe leather and, even if I blow or sweep them on to my tiny garden, they don't seem to rot.
I hope not too many of you "dahn sarf " were woken by our Lincolnshire RAF planes in the early hours? Having grown up around here in the 50s and 60s, when the RAF were having lots of fun with their Vulcans and Lightnings, etc, sonic booms were a pretty much everyday occurrence - sometimes several times a day. They were just part of life. I was astonished, therefore, to hear some "expert" on breakfast radio carefully explaining the phenomenon for the benefit of listeners this morning! Then I recalled how long it must be since I heard one and realised that whole generations have been born and raised without ever hearing it.... Oh dear. I feel old now!