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Can I blog it?
Daily blog, well effectively daily, about my general life and writing. |
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I had an awesome cat. I have owned cats all my life and each one is unique and special, but this one… He was so much more like a human than a cat. He knew when to trill to me so I would talk; he knew when all I wanted was silence and company. When I would have nightmares he would move from my feet and wake me gently, then lie on my chest and purr softly to lull me back to peaceful slumber. It was fate that he was mine, he chose me. I went to the local animal shelter looking for a cat. I am a big believer in that you can’t just grab one; you have to have a connection with them. In a cage full of unwanted kittens, people wanting to try and play with them, he ignored them all. Until he saw me. He came straight over and purred, wanting every snuggle I could give. I knew then that I was his. When I went back to collect him, it was the same, he ignored everyone until he saw me. After three years of having this wonderful pet in my life, he died. I was distraught, not only because he was now gone, but because he was murdered by some asshat who decided it would be fun to bait some cats. He and I used to sit outside for alone time from the rest of the house in a particular spot. He went back to that spot for his last breath. Over the following week I continued to grieve, I know I always will be in some way. But the absence of a pet was compounding it as I have depression and have found pets to be an excellent treatment for my symptoms. So without any other animal besides ‘the black dog’, I was spiralling down. On the weekend, I went to adopt another one. I wanted this one to be an inside friend and so decided on saving two of them to keep each other company while I was away during the day. I suck at writing blogs, mainly because I feel I have nothing interesting to write about. But I thought I would give it a go now. This is the story of my two new furry friends. |
| The naming |
| The afternoon continued and now that they had space they were getting on for the most part, with only the occasional ‘bugger off’ passing between them. After they began to settle, I decided it was time to approach them with their names. First the female. I have a thing for names from literature and this fiery little girl was like a storm. I wanted to call her Tempest from the works of Shakespeare, yes I know not a character but it was still appropriate. I tried saying it to her, but got zero response. My son tried a few names he liked. All she would do was lick and try to conveniently ignore our presence. I picked a name from a book I had recently finished reading – Elspeth. Definite look toward me and came abounding for a hug. As an aside, while she has never responded to any other name, her personality holds true and she still only answers to Elspeth when she chooses to acknowledge us calling her. Now for the boy. I tried Hamlet. Nothing. My son chose Macbeth and he ran away. Hm, guess he really didn’t like that suggestion. After some more pouncing about in the free air, he returned, my son called him Henry and he came right over to him. Now unlike his little friend, Henry has always responded to his name whenever called. He will either run to us or, if he feels he is too far away, trill to let us know he is coming and will be there shortly. The names were sorted, they had shown knowledge of where litter tray, food and so on was. They began to tire and I knew the time was coming where we would discover if they were lap cats or independent. Initially Henry was not a cuddle up cat. He would sit behind you between you and the back of the chair, but not on the lap. Elspeth was a lap cat, but in an interesting way. She would not stay on my legs, she would crawl up and lie across my ample cleavage, snuggling into the softness and purring away. Henry did try this at one point that day, I guess he wondered what the big deal was. However, once Elspeth saw what he was doing she maintained it was her territory and chased him away. That night I was wondering if they would sleep with me or on their own. Henry was the first to try and snuggle up with me, crawling onto my chest. Elspeth again took this as an offence and their interaction, to me, went something like this: E: No boobs for you! H: But I’m a boob man, that’s not fair. E: sorry, but only girls are allowed here. H: You suck. And off he would go. This cycle was repeated several times during the night and at about 3am he decided he was in fact a butt man and snuggled into the cushiness of my posterior. Now, when I sleep on my side they take the same positions still. Elspeth lies up near my chest, under the covers and likes me to hug her like a teddy bear. Henry will lie curled around the curve of my buttocks and if it’s cold he will do this under the covers also. However, if I make the mistake of lying on my back, they both lie on my chest and stomach as they are now willing to share. |
| The shelter |
| So I kind of drifted from my original intention. But I guess sometimes I will simply discuss the movie I am watching or random things which come to mind and not always the pets I have. I suppose I should go back to the day I got my two new kittens and explain a bit about their personality through that, including how they chose their names. You’ll find I tend to write like they are people and almost bullet point when covering the actual events. I arrived at the shelter with the intention of looking to see if two would choose me. I’m very big on letting pets choose me so I know they will fit. I also wanted two as I would like to have inside cats this time around and they could then keep each other occupied while I am at work. Arrived at shelter, went into the kitten room. Ginger tabby comes straight over to me and loves me to death despite ignoring the ones in there before me. Good start at indicating it wants me. Decide to make sure I look at all the kittens before choosing. Ginger tabby then proceeds to go up to next person and throw up on them. Okay, maybe not that one. I wander around a bit more only to find no other kittens really coming up to me aside from the ones who come up to everyone there. While I love affection, I don’t want a pure lap cat or one that will be needy for human interaction due to having employment and so on which will take me out of the house. I look to my childling (who is eight) and he has been detoured by a cage off to the side. This cage had three kittens in it which had just been desexed, still had stitches and so on, and so therefore were not ready for adoption. Here he was, playing with a female tortoiseshell kitten and the connection was so strong between them the strands of energy were almost visible. Spoke to staff and they said they were happy to let me adopt them early as they knew I would take care of them (having adopted from there before and spoken with them on several occasions when I have gone up simply to provide human enrichment for the animals). Good, one kitten down. I looked in the cage further and amongst them there was this male tabby up the back on the bed. New kitten number one would go up to him randomly to try play and he would half swipe at her in a very ‘F off’ motion. Yet he responded to me and smooched when I put fingers in the cage. Good. Kitten number two. So off we go to adopt them, both of them in the same box. Bad move. Hiss mreow and all sorts of activity. Hm, will this be a good combination. Hopefully they will get used to each other. Put in separate boxes next to each other. Paws come out through holes to continue swiping. Move boxes apart. Paws continue to try. Male tabby whines to come out and then perches on my shoulders while adoption process is finalised. Female kitten calms down once he is out. Get them home, take them out of the boxes and put them in living room. SPACE!!! They run around like crazy exploring like they should. |
| Chivalry |
| Chivalry. The code of conduct originally formulated for knights to protect those unable to protect themselves. Not only did this include women due to gender roles of the day, but also the elderly and children. Over time the protection aspect has waned, knights engaged in physical combat which was no longer required. Instead, chivalry simply embodied the virtues of that code, honour, valour and courtly love. The main thing that remained was the expectation that males, being more capable of protecting those around them, would engage in this gentlemanly behaviour towards others. Many times in our modern era we hear women exclaim chivalry is not dead when a male opens the door for them and lets them enter first, holds their chair out for them to sit or helps them with baggage. It was a rainy day last week where I was reminded during my lunch break that just as society has developed, so should the actions we undertake for chivalry. I know I am of the opinion that I don’t expect people to perform chivalrous actions for me; I am someone who is quite capable of protecting myself. Yet I was reminded yet again that it is about more than just ‘protection of the weak’ in today’s society and more about the notions which go with it. I went into the local shopping centre during my lunchbreak to grab something. This supermarket does not have express lanes and due to this I was behind a woman with a trolley full of things who was about to be front of the line. She turned and looked at me, then told me that I should go first as it was obvious I was just on my lunchbreak and would have to go through the rain to get back to work. While many would deem this as ‘polite’ behaviour, I think it goes further. She was not thanking me or doing any of those polite behaviours we often put in as a part of a social contract. She went beyond the niceties and was extremely gracious in her behaviour. For me, on that day where I had needs due to time and weather, she was the embodiment of modern chivalry for me. |
| Where did that time go to? |
| I know it has been a very long time since I posted my first entry. I guess I should give an explanation why lapses of time will occur between posts. In real life I’m a working mum. That of course brings its own delays. But the main reason is my work itself. Unfortunately I cannot tell you what I do for work or who it is for. While that may lead you to think it is something exciting, it isn’t. However, as part of my employment we sign a ‘social charter’ of sorts which agrees that we will not do anything in our non-work life which will bring disrepute onto our employer. The easiest way around this is simply not to tell people who you work for and therefore any misbehaviour, bad opinions or other issues cannot reflect on said employer. This is actually the method recommended by the ‘Agency’ (which it will be called from now on) and is especially useful for online mediums. The work I do for the Agency is stressful and often extremely busy. Deadlines occur in any role and I have had them in all previous jobs, but with this one it really is a case of sometimes something will happen and if you don’t drop everything to address the issue, somebody could get hurt. You will have a week or two where this won’t happen and then a month where it happens almost every day. When the frantic periods occur, I work a little later, getting home drained and tired as I try to release the stress. This is when I log into sites, but really only to check emails and potter off to fall asleep on the couch instead. This is what has been happening since my first entry. I have no idea if anyone is actually reading this, but if so please be patient. |
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