Emancipation and arguments - 27 June to 3 July

A Skua, sizing me up for dinner

First the emancipation: I got to free the moorhens from the little cages on Thursday, they had all survived their captivity relatively well, almost all had lost around 10% body weight, some more, some less. But survived they had. Judging from the squawking and flying feathers in the early hours of the mornings these past few days they have begun to return to their territories, only to find that they have been occupied in their absence and the new occupants are not over joyed with their return. I just hope that they will settle down soon because their favourite time to fight outside my window is at about 4 am just when you would rather be sleeping.

Red sky in the morning - Shepherds warning. Should have paid more attention... 

Next the argument: Leonie decided to really let her hair down on Wednesday night and got very drunk, which not a problem, we have all done it at some point. At some point in the evening she thought she saw John making some sign behind her back and at this point Mount Leonie erupted, spraying burning rage everywhere but principally at John. She threw the worst tantrum I have ever seen. Three year olds behave with more maturity when you take their toy away. I actually cannot believe that an adult can behave that way. John's parentage, his mothers fidelity, John himself, his leadership skills, everything was fair game. It mattered not one iota that Robyn, who had seen the whole thing, maintained that Leonie was misinterpreting what had happened. This continued for ages and eventually with no end in sight I went to bed. Unfortunately, walls here are thin and my bedroom is close to the bar so I was still able to hear the screaming. To John's credit he had apologized and was simply letting it all wash over him, doing nothing to provoke her further. Eventually, Leonie left the bar and went to her room and I managed to get some sleep. We did not see her until two evenings later at supper on Friday when she apologized to everyone and put an end to it.

Can I come home now, please?