In the evening, John arrived at the door of 10 Downing Street as promised. A stern-looking guard carefully checked the list of visitors in his hand www.biquge.info checked the gifts in John's hand before opening the famous black door of the Prime Minister's residence.

Mrs. Churchill received John in the White-Drawing-Room. Currently, the room is also the private room of the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister's wife. But when television becomes widespread, the White Studio will become the most famous room at 10 Downing Street, where prime ministers usually give television interviews.

"Welcome, John." Mrs. Churchill was pleasantly surprised to receive a large bouquet of flowers from John, "Oh, thank you! It's so beautiful, where did you get it? ”

Now, there are no flowers for sale in London, and most of them have been shoveled out and planted with vegetables. But there are always exceptions, such as Thomas's garden, where John's flowers are freshly picked.

Between giving up the flowers in his garden and giving up a date with a beautiful lady, Thomas chose the former. As compensation for not being able to drive John to Downing Street, he asked the maid Diana to help John prepare the bouquet.

"If you like, ma'am."

"You may be seated, John. How about some black tea? Winston was still in the cabinet office, and Ambassador Kennedy and his wife would arrive a little later. ”

"Yes, ma'am. Adele now often uses the method you taught her to make black tea at home, and the Chinese Dian red with Darjeeling and Assam with a little bergamot and calendula is simply fantastic. ”

John's compliment pleased Mrs. Churchill: "If you like it." I have my own tea here, you can bring some back for Adele to taste, it will be a thank you gift. Thanks to you guys for helping us solve a big problem this time. ”

With that, Mrs. Churchill got up and opened the huge closet on the east wall of the room for storing tea and tea sets.

"You're so kind......" John was about to be humble when the door of the room opened, and a staff member of the Prime Minister's Mansion entered.

That's right, it's one. The one who was able to push the door open without permission was none other than Nelson, the black cat adopted by Churchill. However, his current identity is the chief rat catcher of the famous Prime Minister's Office.

From the time of Henry VIII (the second king of the Tudor dynasty), cats have been part of the British government apparatus. According to the law, the cat at 10 Downing Street does not belong to the sitting prime minister, but to the staff of the Prime Minister's Office with a formal civil service establishment.

The Treasury has a special appropriation of one penny a day to hire a chief rat catcher to eradicate rats in the Prime Minister's residence. It is said that recently the "salary" for this position has risen to 1 shilling 6 pence per week.

As soon as he entered the room, Mr. Nelson looked at John proudly, and then unceremoniously jumped into the chair in which Mrs. Churchill had just sitned, squinted his eyes and began to snooze.

"Nelson, go down." Mrs. Churchill was a little embarrassed, and while knocking Nelson out of her seat, she explained to John: "I'm sorry, it's usually in the garden outside during the day, probably because the garden is under construction today, so it ran in on its own." ”

"It's okay, just let it stay in the house." John patted Nelson on the head with his hand. Strictly speaking, Nelson is also the owner of 10 Downing Street, how can there be a reason for a guest to drive away the owner. Moreover, John is also quite curious about this "historical cat".

In his previous life, John knew Nelson from Prime Minister Cameron's chief rat catcher, Larry's Twitter account.

Although Larry, a junior of Nelson, is a scumbag in terms of rat catching ability (Larry has only caught one mouse in his many years of employment, and the whole of Britain was still rejoicing at this result for a while), he is a world-famous "Internet celebrity". Its "personal" Twitter account has enough followers to put most "celebrities" to shame.

For a while, the "tearing battle" between Larry and Palmerston, the head rat catcher of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs across the street, attracted the attention of netizens around the world. Even 70 years ago, Nelson and his predecessor, Chamberlain's appointed rat catcher, were in a battle for office.

At the time, Larry's Twitter account also posted the original Washington Post report of the June 1940 battle and a "loving" photo of Churchill bending over Nelson's head in public.

While John was intently observing Nelson, Mrs. Churchill's own black tea was brewed.

"I'm sorry, John. I don't have fresh milk here, only creamer, would you like some? ”

"Thanks, no need." John knows that the current "creamer" is basically made from hydrogenated soybean oil and corn syrup powder, and the high content of trans fatty acids is scary, and he doesn't want to get cardiovascular disease.

"I don't like creamers either. If only it were at Chatwell Manor, there would be everything. It's so inconvenient to live in Downing Street. Mrs. Churchill couldn't help complaining, "You know, they had to let us move out of the second floor and into a makeshift room in the garden." ”

"Mom, it's also for your safety." At this time, Randolph walked in. "What if the Germans bomb this place? The old house was not very sturdy, and it was at least a little closer to the bunker to live in the garden. ”

After saying that, Randolph hugged John warmly: "Sorry, John, I'm coming back late." ”

"It's okay, Randolph, I've just arrived."

"Randolph, where's your father?" Mrs. Churchill looked at the clock on the wall: "Ambassador Kennedy will be there in a moment." ”

"As soon as the cabinet meeting ended, Dad and Mr. Bevan still had something to discuss, so they called me to come back first to greet the guests." John knew that Churchill's cabinet office was actually next door to 10 Downing Street. As long as you pass through a secret door, you can go directly to and from the two buildings, without going around the main entrance, which is specifically mentioned in the famous British drama "Yes, Prime Minister".

"Then you talk first, I'll go to the kitchen and see how the dinner is prepared." Mrs. Churchill got up and went downstairs, leaving room for John and Randolph.

"Where did you come from in such a hurry?" Seeing Randolph drinking a whole cup of black tea in a very unfigurative way, John asked curiously.

"I've gone to the Scottish Highlands Regiment, and they're leaving for Cairo tomorrow." Randolph sighed, "The situation in North Africa is not good, Somalia has been lost. ”

John was not surprised by the "fall" of Somalia. Although the 300,000-strong Italian Afrika Korps was reluctant to launch a large-scale offensive due to fuel shortages, contenting only to symbolically capture a few border towns, such as Moyale in Kenya, Kassara in Sudan, and Hargeisa in Somalia.

But the British clearly did not have the strength to hold their vast colonies in Africa, and a shrinkage was inevitable. Since the French Somalia declared its allegiance to the Vichy government, British Somalia had no value in holding out. With a defence budget of £900 a year, it's not hard to guess how much combat effectiveness the five Indian and East African battalions stationed there, as well as the local camel army, can have.

John wondered how the British now had the strength to send more troops to North Africa. He also thought that after Hitler announced the indefinite postponement of the "Sea Lion Project", the British would have the leisure to clean up the "spaghetti". Could it be that they were already sure that the Germans would not land?