This is getting ridiculous

The Unbrave Three are living up to their name.

Not that the Driveways do much better.

One day, maybe this day, I sat in the Driveways area which they had vacated due to a mother and three baby squirrels. I could throw nuts to Mr Driveway and he would come close enough to eat them, which the squirrels would not.

Actually, the squirrels would come close, when they were so busy sniffing out things to dig up (their caches? the crows' caches? grubs?) but once they realised how close they were they would run away.

One looked at me and seemed to recognise me. If the crows do, why not the squirrels? Was it Mrs S? I couldn't tell.

It was odd as they seemed to ignore each other. Two briefly faced off and then went to inspect where the other had been digging. One got chased and stayed on the edge of the park. I watched this one, always feeling sympathy for the undersquirrel, and saw her leap twisting into the air at one point. I first thought one of the others had ambushed her. No. She scampered a few feet forward and leapt again, spinning and tail jerking. It was like she'd had an electric shock.

When all four had gone, I went to see if there were any clues, which led to me squatting in the bushes looking at the ground. When I emerged, none the wiser, four schoolkids were staring at me. I brushed myself off and tried to look normal.

Going home seemed a good idea. So I did. In the garden, Mrs Squizzel. I walked up the path, heard a scuffling at the fence, turned to look, and came face to face, at head-height, with one baby being chased by another. Not sure which of us was more surprised.

Are these all the same squirrels?

They don't shout at me, as they do to cats and kites - or as squirrels do at the Reserve, but sometimes they growl.

The rat, who will eat two feet from curious me, is not aggressive.