December 2005

Not one, but all four

It's not a well-known fact that Linda has got three sisters who are all identical, - and the other three all descended on my house one night at Christmas. Here they are all having a good gossip. [Ed - Click to view on Flickr]

Geoff disappeared for the evening, saying he had urgent business up the pub. I wish I could have gone too, - do they let cats in pubs?

Turkey Time's Gets Near

The arrival of that green plastic tree with lights in my lounge means that Christmas must be approaching once again.

As Paula, Ian, Gemma and Louise are coming to Christmas dinner this year, it looks as though us cats may be in with a chance of some left over turkey. This is good because there haven't been any decent left-overs since the staff went vegetarian some time ago.

November 2005

It's getting quiet around here [Ed: Tom's gone deaf]

Geoff and Linda don't talk much anymore, they just open and close their mouths and nothing comes out. For that matter the other cats seem to do the same, - and why have the birdies stopped chirping? Still, it gives me some peace and quiet.

They took me to the vet - who also didn't speak, but looked in my ears. I think I saw him clapping his hands and banging things around his room but without making any noise. Such strange behaviour, - they all seem to be acting so strangely, I'm glad it isn't me! While I think about it, what happened to all the fireworks this year?

A few notes...

Blimey, it's chilly in my house today. I saw Geoff talking on the phone to someone saying the boiler has broken. I hope they come to fix it soon.

The staff went to another concert the other night, they saw Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent perform. I must admit that their music sounds OK even to a deaf tomcat such as myself.

Geoff's on the Telly...

I was watching the cat food adverts on Channel Five the other night, which - annoyingly - were being interrupted by the John Barnes Football Night programme. I pricked my ears up when Brighton and Falmer were mentioned, and guess who's ugly mug appeared on TV.

You'll need matchsticks to hold your eyelids open, - not only because its boring, but if you blink you'll miss it! Just because his mate Ian was on TV in July, he had to do the same!

October 2005

Those Seagulls again!

When the staff came home from a football game recently, they were absolutely reeking of champagne. It seems like some bloke called Two-Jags said the Seagulls could play at a new home in Falmer, and everyone was celebrating.

Now, I was pawing my way through the match day programme when I came across this picture as evidence. [Ed: Click here for the whole page.]

August 2005

More People In My Garden

Once again the canopy appeared in my garden, along with lots of people eating and drinking underneath it. I think that this was to do with Linda's 50th Birthday [Ed - click picture on right, more pictures here].

Now, us six cats tried a scientific experiment to see how big fifty really is. We counted all our legs, but that only came to twenty four. We got Biggles and Amy involved too, but then that gave us thirty two - still a long way short. So fifty is pretty big!

July 2005

Ian's on the Telly

Geoff's mate Ian Smith - who is a controller for the fire brigade - was interviewed on the TV and radio after he probably saved a womans life. [Ed - click for larger picture].

While her house was burning (here's the story), he gave her some good advice on how to stay alive until the fire brigade arrived. She survived, finishing up in hospital with smoke inhalation, but it could have been far worse without his advice. All us cats say well done Ian! It's nice to know the fire and rescue service is always there should we get stuck up a tree!

Katy takes a swim

The other evening, a very wet Katy came in through the catflap, dripping everywhere, - what a mess. While the staff swung into action with a towel, as Inspector Tom I decided to investigate to ensure no foul play. What I discovered was a trail of soaked ground coming from the fishpond at the bottom of the garden with some moths buzzing around over it. My conclusion: she jumped to catch a moth and landed in the middle of the pond. I wish I'd seen it. What a plonker!

New Arrival

My blind bunny buddy Biggles has a new mate. She's called Amy and is pictured here (Ed Click to enlarge). Poor Bigs has been losing weight lately, and the staff are hoping it's due to a lack of female company (mind you, thats never stopped me eating!). As with all newcomers I have introduced myself and explained that I'm in charge of everything around here. She wouldn't say boo to a goose, let alone to a handsome tomcat such as I.

Concerts, yet again.

The staff have been taking evenings off again to see a bloke called Brian Wilson. Geoff tells me he was once in the Beach Boys. Geoff & Linda didn't just go once, - they went to see him twice. Linda told someone it was because they were both such great fans of Brian Wilson, - the truth is that Geoff buggered up ordering tickets on the internet, - but don't let anyone know, will you?

June 2005

Who are all these people?

In the middle of June, a big canopy with bunting appeared in my back garden, and a few days later it sheltered a gardenful of people from the sun. Apparently, they were all related to Linda, from the Ellis side of her family.Us cats kept out of the way, - apart from Pippa who spent the afternoon trying to scrounge pieces of chicken from the visitors. What a floozie.
[Ed - read more here]

Poor Bigs

I thought a rabbit's foot was supposed to be lucky! My little blind bunny friend Biggles is in the wars again with an abcess on his toe, which the Vet has removed. As you can see in the pictue (Ed: click to enlarge), his foot is all bandaged up - and he can't decide whether to use his white stick or his walking stick to hobble around with.

May 2005

Visitors

Geoff's recently found second cousin Mike Brown and his wife Lorna came to visit him and Linda all the way from Canada. [Ed: Click to enlarge]

Now I've heard before that this Canada place is the other side of the pond, so once again I've investigated - and found that there's nothing on the other side of the pond in which anyone can live, there's just the usual flowerbeds, a few weeds and some snails. Perhaps it's a pond in someone else's garden.

Concerts - again

I decided to let the staff have a night off recently, so they went to a place called Hammersmith (sounds nasty) to see someone called Tears for Fears in concert. However, I do hate it when they are back late, and us cats don't get our supper at the usual time. I must have a word.

The staff and their friends Paula and Ian went to another event at Glynde in Sussex, - it was an airshow, concert, fireworks and picnic all rolled into one. It was windy and they came back frozen. Serve 'em right!

April 2005

Jammy Git

Not only has Geoff won £10 in two consecutive weeks on the lottery, he has also won two tickets for the Brighton & Hove Albion End of Season Dinner at the Brighton Metropole in the 'Heroes & Winners' competition. So the staff are out again. I hope they bring something home for me.

March 2005

Bessie The Rabbit

Some sad news I'm afraid. My little rabbit friend Bessie died on the vets table after a short illness which caused her to lose the use of her back legs. She lost a lot of weight, and died despite all the efforts of our vet. She's the only rabbit I know who has had her neck in a fox's mouth and lived. Biggles misses her desperately, as do all the cats and humans in the house. (Click to enlarge).

Snow?

What's all this snow about? I thought that with all this global warming it was a thing of the past. OK, it's fine if you happen to be a young kittypuss, out there chasing snowflakes, but not if you're a distinguished, fifteen year old ginger tom like me. It sure is cold on the bum when you need to nip outside for a quick one.

Coroner's Court

Linda has been summonsed to be a juror at the local Coroner's Court. She's not looking forward to it. Geoff isn't helping much either by telling her that they'll give her a large polythene bag full of human body bits and ask her "Well, what do you think happened here, then?"

Their supper looked a bit suspicious the other night, - I hope it really was a Domino's Pizza and not the bloke who jumped from the 23rd floor.

January 2005

Concerts

The staff and their friends Paula and Ian Smith went to see the Blues Band in Brighton. During the second set, singer Paul Jones announced that Ian's wife Paula Smith had recently celebrated her ??th birthday and that Geoff's wife Linda Penn was due to celebrate her ??th birthday later this year.

Now, Paul Jones is always the gentleman, and never revealed their ages, but a tomcat like me has no such scruples. It's fifty!

Wedding Anniversary

Linda & Geoff celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary in style this month. Geoff made them both a Mushroom Stroganoff, then Linda went to bed. Poor thing had a nasty virus which kept us all awake with her coughing. Us cats even abandoned sleeping on the bed at night and moved into the spare bedroom - it was no better there either, Linda's coughing shook the pictures off the walls.