Fox News - plus, Japanese Diary 22

I'm beginning to think that the fox from a few nights ago is stalking me - whether literally or metaphorically I'm not certain. At midnight last night it was outside my window screaming loudly and repeatedly. (For those who may not be familiar with the sound, you listen here. I can't stress enough how well it carries on the midnight air.). I wondered if it was in pain, but when I peered out it was just sitting calmly beside my car, screaming. God knows I can relate to that. At length a disgruntled looking man in socks emerged from a nearby house and walked up and down, slapping his thigh, presumably in an attempt to intimidate it, but the fox (who wasn't in socks) watched this performance with disdain, and only when the man had retreated to his doorway did it slink away.

Then this evening I was in my Japanese class a couple of miles away in Clifton, when someone sitting opposite me cried "Are wa kitsune desu!" (or words to that effect). Turning, I saw my fox - or possibly one of its close associates - sitting a couple of yards behind me on the flat roof just outside the window. It sat so long that I decided to take a picture, but (as is the way of animals) it moved away just before I pressed the button.

Meanwhile, I learn that the Japanese word for "ring finger" is "kusuriyubi" - which is to say, "medicine finger". I wonder why?