Cloudberry

False alarm, he's finally down after a couple of hours.

Neighbour kids' kitten is well and truly stuck up an elder tree at the bottom of my garden. Can anyone help, either with a ladder or climbing skills? Lordship Lane/Townley Road area.

Same with the goldfinches that come to my feeders. There were 11 of them on the 23rd - a regular group of 8 plus 3 apparent interlopers with much loud squabbling, then none for several days and the nyger seed they like seemingly not touched. Then this morning 3 of them are back. Perhaps they've been conserving energy in the cold weather... but a cold golfinch still needs to eat and they normally munch the contents of a couple of feeders in as many days. A mystery. Sparrows here have been around, though less frequently. I hope yours are back soon.

I paid ?9.50 for a cab from King's A&E to not far from Sue's destination at 7 a.m. on the 25th. That was with Keane Group, the Greyhound cab I booked via the hospital freephone having failed to turn up. Keane told me in advance how much it would be and that that fares were double-rate over the "holiday period" - which is fair enough (if annoying) but ?9 seems a bit excessive for the 23rd. Worth checking whether it's a holiday or not when you call! I normally pay around ?5 going from home to Camberwell with Keane.