Alec often gives thanks for the fact that he works only twenty minutes or so from home - he does not have to commute into the dust and grime of London or any other big city. True perfection for him would be to be within walking distance, which is not quite possible from here, but a short journey in the car through not very busy traffic is a very good second best.

Note that Spot the Invincible stands guard over her Master (slave), also taking the evening air, meditating upon the reason for Life (but with one ear cocked for the sound of a food tin opening and the chink of her saucer on the floor).

The eerie barking of a Muntjac deer in the woodland, (just the other side of the hedge and across the field) stirs her not at all, though it raises the hairs on the back of my own arms, a primitive, coarse rasping which seemingly comes from a creature much greater than the little, dog like beast that shyly creeps into the garden on occasion.

Haunting noises from the woodland still hint at Fearsome Things from the shadows, no matter how fearless of such things we nowadays think we are. The makers and modellers of old Folk stories knew that very well, and if we are honest, we too are aware - just below the skin of sophistication that wraps us in only the thinnest of veils.