Life, the Universe and Everything

Jamie and I just cooked a massive fry up and oh my god it was tasty. Sausages, bacon, black pudding, scrambled eggs, beans, toast, chips, and fried mushrooms. And tasty V8 fruit and vegetable juice.

I am absolutely stuffed.

And I am sad that I didn't have a camera handy, as Mr Fidget was demonstrating his amazingness really well, I bet none of the rest of you with cats can say with confidence that if you were sat at your dining table eating a meal, and your cat was sitting on the dining table as well, that your cat would completely ignore all the food that was on offer and sit quite quietly at the other end of the table out of the way.

Fidget was sitting across the corner where Jamie's drinks had to go, when I was laying the table. So I said to him "Fidget, you can't leave your bottom there you know" and he promptly got up, walked to the other corner of the table and sat back down, totally out of the way, and then sat very quietly throughout the meal. At one point he got up, but only to move into his bed which is on the table, and he curled up and went to sleep.

He is a professional cat!

For a cat that getsso antsy about having other cats in his territory, and who frequently launches himself claws first into any cat who dares walk across the fence at the bottom of the garden, Mr Fidget really is quite rubbish when it comes to defending his home from invaders!

I came home from work today, Fidget was in the dining room patiently waiting for me to feed him. I took off my assorted cold-preventing-devices, secured my bike, closed and locked the window, fed the cat. Then I headed, mail in hand, into the living room to sit down, relax and open the mail. What did I find in the living room? Crotchspider! Just standing in the middle of the room, in a sort of "I've just got up from a place where I was very comfy" kind of way. So I picked him up and took him outside. He seemed a bit annoyed, but not really upset. Cheeky bugger.

Jamie and I need some sensible advice.

That adorable grey cat - Crotchspider - is still hanging around. Its freezing outside, and he's desperate to come in, not just for food but for warmth and attention as well. We've been feeling pretty sorry for him of late, with it being so cold, and we've been letting him in to warm up and eat something, shutting him in the kitchen/bathroom while Fidget is shut in the rest of the house. Last night saw the most pathetic of all - we had the oven on for ages cos we were baking a ham. Jamie let him in, and after eating some food, Crotchy huddled himself up as close to the oven door as he could. He was actually shivering it was that cold.

In the past week (while we've been feeding him at least twice a day), he's put on half a kilo. He was 4kgs when we first weighed him, last night he was 4.5kgs. We couldnt face shoving him back outside in the cold, so reasoned we could probably let him sleep in the bathroom (since Fidget never goes in there anyway). I got some fleeces down from upstairs to make a sort of pillow under the radiator, and he came to me almost straight away, climbed on and curled up. Had a wash (which is probably something he hasn't really been able to do properly out in the cold) and slept. He purred like a demon when I stroked and fussed him too. Fidget didnt' seem all that bothered, but we kept the kitchen door shut to separate them nonetheless.

So our New Years Eve was spent caring for a poor, cold, hungry possibly-stray cat! Up to and including rescuing Fidget's old litter tray from the alley and cleaning it out so we could put it in the bathroom for Crotchy. Just before midnight, I was sat in my armchair with Fidget curled up purring away on my lap, Jamie was outside having a fag. Jools Holland starts the countdown to midnight. I call Jamie in from outside. He comes running in and we welcome the New Year together. Almost as soon as we're done with our clinking of glasses and "Happy New Year"s, the fireworks start outside. Loads of them, and ridiculously loud. It was like the Gaza strip. Fidget instantly gets all angsty, ears flat against his skull. I start soothing him. Then I hear a small noise from the doorway. Crotchspider! Jamie'd obviously left the kitchen door open in his rush to get back in time for midnight, and the fireworks had just as obviously upset Crotchy as much as they'd upset Fidget. Fidget, bless him, didn't move a muscle. You could see he was kind of annoyed at the other cat being there, but he didnt leap up and attack him on sight. Jamie took Crotchy back to the bathroom and sat with him for a while, until the fireworks went away and he calmed down.

Tugs at my heartstrings it does. He was scared, and he knew exactly where we were and came to us for reassurance. He's such a sweetheart.

Anyway, the upshot of it all is he spent the night in our bathroom, he ate roughly 2 pouches worth of food but then wasn't interested in the food anymore (so he does only want the food because he's that hungry, not because he doesnt know when to stop eating), he even used the litter tray, so he was obviously happy about his surroundings and felt safe. Jamie had to kick him out in the morning (after feeding him) and he's been kinda hanging around all day. He's currently outside howling the place down wanting back in.

At the weekend (on Sunday, since we're out on Saturday) we are thinking about taking a photo of him round Liverpool Road and knocking on doors till we find his owner. Doesn't leave us much idea what to do about him in the mean time though. I guess we're going to have to let him sleep in our bathroom overnight, because its so cold and he really doesnt seem to have anywhere else to go.

Fidget was a little put out, but not hugely upset this morning. I don't know how long he'll put up with it though. I've emailed the RSPCA to report my "welfare concern" so hopefully they'll get back in touch sometime this week.

Back from our flying visit to Wales. I am currently cold, and a little bit hungry, and tired and I have a headache. So thats not great. But I've had a lovely few days.

( Christmas Day )
( The Wales bit )
( The rugby bit )
( The Fidget/Crotchspider bit )

So why I am I stuck in the office while Jamie gets to snooze in bed for as long as he likes?

Doesn't seem fair to me.

Weekend was fun, up at the house of Caro, with Ros. Lovely to see Caz, and Kathy and Ed as well. Highlight of the weekend, well there are probably several, but the one I am most surprised/pleased with were my unexpected Zuki cuddles in the middle of the night on Saturday. It was incredibly cute and very pathetic, and not at all like her!

It seems I missed out on Mr Fidget making lots of mess everywhere as well, for he Jamie tells me tales of huge poos in the litter tray (very unusual for him, although this time he did manage to get it all in the box and not half over the side), and of throwing up huge fur balls. poor little thing. He was very happy yesterday though (once I'd changed out of my smelling-like-Caro's-cats clothes) and I got lots of cuddles. He still loves his cat bed very much. And I think I worked out why, for I laid my head on it and lo! It is extremely comfy indeed.

I am all tired and snoozy, and also thirsty, but not thirsty for any of the readily available liquids, which is annoying. And I have to concentrate, which isnt good. I did however have time (and brains to remember) to put more music on my mp3 player, so I now have a selection of musical soundtrack songs, and some Stereophonics and a couple of Sting tracks to add to what was already there (tom jones, manics, take that, only men aloud, various others), so I can just plug in my headphones and get on with it. Maybe.

Meeting up with Jamie for lunch to go xmas shopping for his family, that should be fun :-)

Well, for Mr Fidget anyway. I ordered him a cat bed from Albany Pet Stores on ebay (where we got his scratching tower from). It arrived today. Jamie decided that he should be allowed to have it straight away, rather than have to wait another week.

Its purpose is mainly to give to him something comfy to sleep in that isnt a jumper or somebody's lap or a shirt thats been left on the dining table! He likes to sit on the table so he can see out of the window to keep an eye on his territory, so we're going to keep the bed on there and move it occasionally. I'm sure once he's used to it he'll sleep on it quite happily wherever it is.

( pics behind cut )

Jamie just emailed this to me and it made me giggle. so I thought I would share.

So exam two this morning and I feel like death. Didn't sleep very well past about 4/5 am, when Mr Fidget decided the only possible route to cuddles with Jamie under the covers was via me. So he walked all the way up me, then crossed over my head on the pillow, standing on my hair and pulling it in the process. I was all ready to get mad at him, and then he curled up in a very cute fashion and I didn't have the heart to be annoyed anymore. But I have sort of drifted in and out of half-sleep since then.

I feel awful. I have a sore throat, my ears hurt inside, I have a pressure headache from all the goo in my sinuses and my nose is all blocked up. Its mostly on the left side of my head though, which is weird. I have my pre-exam lemsip, but unfortunately having one now means the next one is due at 12pm, when I'll be in the exam hall and unable to have one. 12pm was when I started to go downhill yesterday, I imagine today will be much the same. I have more layers on today (including leggings and knee-high socks under my jeans) to try and combat the coldness from setting in and making me feel ill, which it did yesterday.

The original plan for this afternoon involved fun things like tidying up the house and putting up Christmas decorations. I fear this may have to wait until later on in the week.

Jamie fell off his bike on the way home. He bashed his right wrist, and grazed his left knee pretty nastily, and his left thigh as well. His left shoulder is also very sore. I don't think he's broken anything, although he may have cracked the bone in his wrist, we're going to see what its like in the morning, because we can't really face an evening up in casualty tonight!

He is being very pathetic about it. I put germoline on his grazes, and a big plaster on the graze on his knee, and cooked him a tasty tasty meal of mushroom, garlic and honey lamb steaks and jacket potatoes with loads of butter. Then we watched the Baa-baas playing Australia, because Shane Williams was playing for the Baa-baas.

We have also ordered our Christmas presents from Jamie's parents to us (they wired us the money today) - Jamie is getting the new season Osprey's replica shirt (he gets one every year), and I am getting a pink waterproof mp3 player.

Fidget continues to be ridiculously cute - I cannot sit down in this armchair of an evening without having him permanently attached to my legs in a variety of upside-down poses. And when we go to bed he spends the whole night alternately curled up and stretched out along my side/back. Its cute enough I suppose, but every now and again it gets very irritating!