Journey to das Boot

On a glorious autumn morning I am on the train to meet Older Nephew to take das Boot to the pump out at Ely and begin the process of winterising her. I have conflicting feelings about das Boot. I want to make improvements, I have ideas to make life aboard more comfortable, but I am also thinking the time is approaching to give up my car, and therefore das Boot. Older Nephew’s girlfriend is in London, and although he will still be based in the East, I wonder if his personal centre of gravity is shifting, and how often he will want or be able to join me when I am at the marina.

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Unconditional Love

I spent yesterday with Nephew, his partner and their baby. We walked and talked and ate, cooed over the baby, talked about dogs we’d like to have, cooed over the baby again, talked about love. The usual. Quite a lot of people talk about their pets giving them unconditional love as though that is a rare and wonderful thing. It’s definitely wonderful, but I should hope that the humans getting a pet are also giving unconditional love, and that parents would not have children with the love conditional on their exam results/looks/sporting achievement or whatever.

Among some papers I was sorting last week I found this photograph.

Of Mattresses and A Growing Cat

When I woke up with a mild ache in my back I was surprised. It couldn’t be my mattress, I reasoned. That’s new. Then it happened again. I examined my matress and found a faint hollow. I was shocked: my new mattress. then I tried to remember when I bought it, and realised it isn’t new at all. I looked up how often you should expect to replace a mattress. It seems my mattress, my new mattress, is well by its sell-by date.
I shall have to start researching to get a new one. Hopefully I can replace it with the same kind, one from Norris beds. If I am lucky, they may even still have my details. In the meantime, I shall be careful where I lie. It is still a million times more comfortable than this spot Cat chose to sleep in once.

Snug

Weekly Photo Challenge: Hope

Hope Springs Eternal

I hope I don’t need to explain that I did not share Not Cat’s hope of catching the blackbird. It knew full well he was there. Then a bluetit landed on a higher branch, so I guess neither rated his chances. I just hope it stays that way..

Two Novembers

A year ago I was on das Boot. Back at home, I had a stack of paperwork to attend to. Over on the Scroobius Pip’s page she has a similar story. http://thescroobiuspip.com/2011/11/26/clearing-clutter

This November, apart from the heated towel rail in the bathroom, I’ve yet to out my heating on.
I took this photos in the garden today. They are my usual subjects – plants, Not Cat.

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The Wanderer

I’ve just been ordering a tag to attach to Not Cat’s collar which is looking increasingly like a charm bracelet.

This one will state that he has been chipped, give my mobile number, and request that anyone who finds him calls me.

The last two mornings have been a race to get to work on time as Not Cat has been AWOL. I replaced the Loc8tor batteries tonight, as one was dead, so that hasn’t been any help. My heart has been in my mouth, fearing he has been lifted for his pretty looks and gentle ways. Neighbours have checked their gardens, and I had to knock on doors and send several emails when he did turn up.

My guess is he’s found his way inside someone’s house, because his paws are warmer than I’d expect when he does reappear. Whether that person knows he’s there or not is a moot point.

Sunshine Cat

OK. Four pictures of Not Cat. I want to include one in a calendar for Aunt at Christmas. Which one should it be? Some cropping may be involved.

What do you think? Which one should I include?

Social Networks Cat Style

Cat never had careers advice, but it didn’t take a professional to see he had people skills in abundance. Had he been human, Alex Polizzi would have snapped him up for a front of house role in one of her smarter hotels, meeting and greeting the guests. I often thought he would have loved living in a children’s or old people’s home and excelled in the role, a thought that was confirmed in the last weeks of his life when we had an extended stay at the scheme where Mother lived.

Reflective Cat

He kept me waiting at the door when he saw old acquaintances coming along the street, or spied someone he liked the look of. He knew every old lady with a shopping trolley, every mother and toddler. They were his key street audience, but it also included everyone else from lorry drivers to school children.

Replay: March 2009 This Boat Belongs to Cat

This was originally posted on MyT.
MARCH 7TH, 2009 23:08
Boating companionship

The Cat and I left London mid-morning and had a quiet journey. It would have been earlier except Cat, correctly guessing a car journey was on the cards, decided on evasion, and it was only be pretending complete indifference that I lured him close enough to me to catch.

He threw up a hundred yards short of the marina, which made for a slightly stressful arrival. But once on board, he’s been a star. Now that people are returning to their boats with the promise of spring, we’ve had social calls, rather than professionals checking out the loo/batteries/fridge etc. Cat has purred and welcomed, then stretched out over three-quarters of the seating and slept.

Last night he woke me with fearful howls. I leapt out of bed, convinced he was in dreadful pain, to find him defending das Boot from an uninvited visitor, one of the feral cats from the colony at the nearby farm. I hope he doesn’t do it again tonight, but I can’t help thinking this means he’s decided this is his boat and he’s happy here.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Hidden

Apologies for another cat picture, but this one sort of hits the mark.
Maybe another non-feline one later.

Cold Morning Afloat