91热爆

I've just realised it's almost the end of February and I have not yet issued an edition of the Saga.

Dr Mackay's cat, Katie, is definitely a house cat. She has been allowed outdoors on several occasions but soon scuttled back in when she discovered that the garden wasn't centrally heated. And, now that Katie has discovered that the bathroom floor has underfloor heating, Dr Mackay knows where to find her whenever she goes missing; he is sure to find Katie either lying or sitting on the bathroom floor with a beatific smile on her face.

Maureen & myself usually sit in the kitchen with a drink and listen to the "Book at bedtime" on 91热爆 Radio 4 at 10:45 pm before we retire to bed. The latest story ("Salmon fishing in the Yemen") was introduced by some Middle Eastern music which gradually faded into Scottish bagpipe music. Our cat, Surrey, completely ignored the Middle Eastern music but as soon as the bagpipes began to play Surrey's ears shot up, her eyes widened and she leapt onto the table, looking around and trying to find the source of the sound. We've not noticed her paying attention to any other music on the radio so we presume this apparent passion for the pipes is in her Scottish (albeit Orcadian) blood.

Last week Maureen was in the utility room loading the washing machine when she was was alarmed to find one of my pyjama jackets apparently moving around the floor. It transpired that Surrey, who always investigates the washing before it goes into the machine, had got her head stuck up the sleeve of the pyjama jacket and was bumbling around, unable to see where she was going.

I had an exciting morning on Saturday. When I went to use the car I found that one of the tyres on the car was flat, the valve core had sprung out and couldn't be found. The spare has never been removed from the back door since I bought the car 3.5 years ago and I did not have a jack or a wheel brace. I borrowed a jack & wheelbrace from Bob Wilcox then discovered that Landrover Discovery wheel nuts are larger than the usual sort. So I borrowed a wheel brace from Carol at the hotel (they've got a Discovery too) and eventually got the spare wheel all ready to get on with things. I jacked up the car, removed the faulty wheel then discovered that I could not get the spare wheel on because I had not jacked the car up high enough. I couldn't jack it any higher because the screw jack was at the limit of its travel and I couldn't get the original wheel on, even temporarily, because I couldn't compress it enough. So I had to put some wooden packing under the rear differential, lower the car onto the packing, put some wooden packing under the screw jack, raise the car again and then heave the spare wheel into place. Fortunately it wasn't raining and the strong winds seem to have died down but it was very cold. I'll take the faulty wheel to Maurice at Olivebank, get him to fit a new valve and ask him to swap the wheels over - I don't think I could go through that again. My muscles are still aching from all the unaccustomed effort.
Bruce Fletcher
Stronsay, Orkney