Pages

Subscribe: Subscribe to me on YouTube

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

'The Artist' might have left us dumbstruck, but fortunately there's nothing that can't be fixed by some high calorie food. So having suffered in silence for ninety minutes, we went straight from the cinema to Prezzo on Monday afternoon for a slap-up meal. It being date-day, I wanted to spare no expense and treat Lisa to her favourite Italian food. And besides, I'd spent my Tesco Clubcard points on vouchers, so it cost me virtually nothing.

Whilst at the restaurant, I revealed to Lisa that unbeknownst to her, I had plans for the rest of the evening, and that we'd actually be going on somewhere else afterwards. She was naturally quite excited, and sure enough, within the hour, we were parking up next to a Porsche 911 with the numberplate '18 AR'...

18 AR
It was in the Lidl car park. Times are clearly harder than I realised.

Having walked out of Lidl with some kitchen rolls and a bag of sweets, it soon became obvious to Lisa that date-day was drawing to a close, so I drove her home to do the ironing. Which is where our week took an unexpected turn. When we arrived home at 5:30pm on Monday, we were met outside our block of flats by a little cat who came running up to us, desperate for attention, and started jumping up to meet our hands, rather than waiting to be stroked.

We spent a couple of minutes making a fuss of it, then came inside, narrowly avoiding being followed in by the cat, who then pressed its face up against the glass of the door in a calculated attempt to tug at our heart strings. We watched it from the window for a while, and it seemed to be going up to every passer-by, begging for attention and asking to come in. We knew it was unlikely to belong to our block, as we have no ground floor flats, but we assumed it had an owner, and thought no more of it.

So that was Monday. On Tuesday, Amelie was back, so I told her about the cat, and suggested she keep a look out for it, whilst not really expecting to see it again. So I picked her up from nursery at 5pm yesterday and walked her home, where lo-and-behold, the same thing happened again. We were greeted by the same cat, with the same behaviour. I couldn't drag Amelie away. We were out there for twenty-five minutes. She even asked to put her gloves on because her hands were so cold, but she still wouldn't leave the cat and come in.

Whilst doing some industrial stroking, one of our neighbours came by and said that the cat has been around for a few days, and is sleeping under the portacabins which have become a permanent fixture on the estate. I was tempted to take it in there and then, but caution prevailed, and Amelie and I eventually made it through the door without our cat shadow.

Lisa was out at the time with a friend, but at 7pm, I looked out of the window, and saw the cat sitting forlornly on a breeze block outside one of the portacabins. I considered going down, but Amelie was just on her way to bed, and I could see myself getting caught up in some kind of McCanns/Tapas situation. So I stayed where I was. Until Lisa got home and virtually demanded that we adopt it.

When the poor little thing was still out there at 9pm, I gave in...

Lapcat
That was ten minutes after arrival. Talk about making yourself at home.

I'm writing this at 7am, and Amelie's not up yet, but she's going to think it's Christmas when she does. We don't know whether it's male or female, lost or abandoned, pregnant or diseased, but this cat is the friendliest creature I've ever encountered. I feel like I'm being stalked by Top Cat. The thing won't leave me alone. I'm trying to type this with a laptop on my knees and a cat on my chest. If it doesn't maintain physical contact at all times, it's not happy. I can't even go to the toilet alone. In fact it's hard to take photos, because the moment I stand back more than two feet, I'm immediately followed.

Lost
Chloe's a little wary, but we've had no fights, and as for Amelie, she'll probably faint with excitement, but we'll be warning her not to get carried away. Which is more than can be said for the cat when Am sees it. We've checked the latest mug-shots on Lost Cats Brighton, and it's not on there, but I'll be taking it to the vet today to have it scanned for a microchip. With a bit of luck, it might be identified. But if not... well, we haven't decided yet...

6 comments:

A Passer-by said...

And after your recent vet experience, are you expecting your vet to scan the cat - for free??  I can see them rubbing their hands at the thought of more vets bills to give you!!!

Phil's Mum said...

It will take a lot of food to fill that long body!!

Poirot said...

Some things are just meant to be.....

Zoe Sprake said...

You may not have decided.  Lisa and Amelie have.

Phil said...

True. Lisa had a photo on Facebook within half an hour of arrival.

Phil said...

Maybe we should call it Kay. As in Que Sera Sera.