Christmas catch up
1. Stupidly didn’t think about cats until it was too late, and all the local catteries were full.
2. Mom managed to find a cattery near Smalltown which had just had a cancelleation, which would take them both from Saturday to Wednesday.
3. Had to cancel hair appointment booked for Saturday, and instead bundle up two cats into their boxes, along with all the presents and clothes for the weekend into the car early morning, so I could be back in Smalltown for lunchtime.
4. Drove for 2 and half hours with one non stop howling pussy cat, and one letting out the odd mewl every 20 minutes of so.
5. Cattery was the best I have ever been to, the woman who ran it obviously loved her job, knew all the cats in there by name.
6. Family stuff - same old same old. At least the accordian didn’t come out (one Christmas my brother-in-law’s mother got her accordian out, and played songs which my mother, and my mother-in-law spent 4 hours singing along to - don’t anyone ever moan about repeats on the telly, God, repeats of the bloody lottery numbers would have been more fun).
7. Pick up cats - and bless them, when I went in, Madam must have heard my voice, because she was waiting at the door, purring like mad, even let me pick her up for a cuddle. Of course, Mister couldn’t care less, and saw the door opening as a reason to escape, and run up and down tormenting all the other cats in their cages.
8. Both cats have been extra cuddly, but I am amazed at how well they have been looked after. Often, when left in catteries there is a build up of fur, as they have not had much stroking. These two pussies have had a goodly amount of stroking over their time locked up.
9. Very concerned about nephew. Of course, nothing was said to me, and there was the usual having a go at him because he had a nap Christmas afternoon (”You are such a lazy sod.” “But I only had 5 hours sleep last night, and the night before…” “Well whose fault is that?”). Then, last night there I went round to my sisters. I asked after him, and she burst into tears. Apparently he is on anti-depressants, and instead of helping him deal with it, it seems her response is to cry. So, as well as the stress he is already under, we can add guilt on top of it. She, of course, is blaming the doctor for putting him on the tablets. I asked her what tablets he was on; she didn’t know. I asked her how long he was to be on them; she didn’t know. It was all I could do not to scream at her to deal with it, that it wasn’t all about her, it was about nephew, and she had to help him deal with it, not the other way around. I will ring him once he is back at uni - I guess out of all the family I am the only one who knows what he is going through, and can give him an ear. I feel a bit guilty, as he rang me a few weeks ago, and from what sis said it was about the time he was put on the tablets. But it was the day I got back from America, and I was so incredibly jet-lagged, I wasn’t making any sense at all. He wants to come visit me in February anyway, and I have promised to go and visit him. Get to the bottom of what the problem really is.
10. Back to work today. Have spent an incredibly geeky day, testing the effects of tiny little tweaks to code on run time and cpu time. Tomorrow I get to do it all over again!