In other news project 'tame the beast' is progressing well. We've had a feral Cat or more probably a Cat that has decided he doesn't like where he lived (for whatever reason but a lot of people think he may have been ill-treated) so he was better off shifting for himself (Cat-flap raiding)
He's been coming in for food (we've always got dried food in bowls) for 8-9 months, at first he'd just sneak in, scoff and scarper if he saw us. Through the summer when we had the door open he'd turn up at mealtimes and try to bully one of our cats away from their bowl so we started to give him some food of his own, he'd take it but would hiss at us when feeding him. Now as the weather got colder he took to calling at the cat-flap and knocking to be let in and then progressed to using it (still hissing violently at us) This progressed to rubbing against my ankles when I was 'dishing up' but still hissing (and taking swipes at me) if I tried to stroke him.
As it's got colder he's taken to sleeping on the Settee and this week with Maz being away I tried sitting on the settee watching TV with him sitting next to me, that went fine for a couple of days so I tentatively put my hand close to him and he gave it a sniff so I stroked his head and he gave a little wriggle and closed his eyes again, He's slowly starting to become friendly.