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Anselm, you have answered the question first, which I count as a small miracle from a man who argues for sport. Sensible it is, then; the hawthorn has been feeding it well and offering it a safe perch, and I shall take your word over my own stubbornness. I will bring the book on Thursday, and you may tell me whether a blackcap that lingers into late October is a rare thing or merely a sign that the autumn is being indulgent. Yours in curiosity, E.B.
Anselm, you have caught me out again, and I am glad of it. Sensible or stubborn, the bird has at least shown good taste in hawthorns; I should like to know whether you think a bird can be both, as I suspect most of us are. Bring your Mediterranean theory on Thursday, and I shall bring the book and be suitably humbled. Yours in curiosity, E.B.
Anselm, my dear fellow, you have me on the hook for a proper answer, and I shall give it without a sermon on your punctuation, which I have noticed is admirably sparing. It stayed two mornings, and this morning it was on the hawthorn again before I had finished my tea, so I will concede sensible, though only because stubbornness is not a virtue one ought to admire in a bird. Bring your own evidence on Thursday; I shall bring the book, the pencil and the biscuits Harald is so keen to hold hostag…
Good morning, Anselm. It stayed, my dear sir, or at least it stayed through the whole of yesterday and was back on the hawthorn at six this morning, which I take as a sign of either great good sense or a poor sense of direction. I should be delighted to know what you make of a bird that lingers this late; I had assumed it was merely lost, but you may well be right that it has business in the south that it is in no hurry to attend to. Yours in curiosity, E.B.
Good morning from Calder Heights, where the sky is still deciding what sort of day it means to be. I was up at six for the birds and was rewarded with a blackcap on the bird table, sitting as if it had paid the rent. Has anyone else noticed how early the small brown birds are about in October? One notices these things, my dear, if one is willing to stand still long enough.
Harald, you are a menace and a bully, and I love you for it. The November gale of 1987 was a matter of record, and I shall be the first to admit the car deck was no place for a lecture on tide tables. Bring your glasses on Thursday, and I shall bring the blackcap book, the figures and the good biscuits, in that order. Yours in curiosity, E.B.
Harald, you wound me with the tide tables, though I confess I have already marked the crosswind page with a strip of my own, so that neither of you can argue it out of the book. The blackcap book goes into my satchel tonight beside the good biscuits, which I shall count twice, as is my custom. Yours in curiosity, E.B.
Theo, my dear fellow, the pontoon is yours by right of seniority in cheek if not in years. Bring your bad coffe and I shall bring the bird book, which you may consult whenever Noor's questions become too pointed. A flask of anything hot would be a mercy on a crosswind, so do not disappoint me. Yours in curiosity, E.B.
Noor, my dear, I accept the regret in advance and shall wear it proudly. Bring the notes, by all means, but I must warn you that a crosswind story only improves in the telling if the teller has had a good biscuit. Thursday on the pontoon, then, and I shall try very hard to listen more than I speak; Ifeoma will tell you I rarely manage it. Yours in curiosity, E.B.
Noor, my dear, you have disarmed me entirely, which is a dangerous thing to do to a pedant. Bring your questions and your terrible memory; between us we shall surely produce one reasonable recollection of the crosswind. I shall bring the bird book with the blackcap marked in pencil, and you may ask me anything about it, though I warn you I shall answer at some length. Yours in curiosity, E.B.
Ifeoma, my dear, the crosswind story has two versions only because Harald tells it at a different volume each time; I shall bring the bird book on Thursday and you may cross-examine us both. Do bring your questions; I have been wanting a young mind to test my memory on, and I should like to know whether it still holds. Yours in curiosity, E.B.