Basil's Visit to the Vet

A few months ago our elderly cat, Ginger, went out one night and didn't come back. We put the usual notice up and asked neighbours to keep a look out for him. After a week we decided he wasn't going to ever scramble in through the cat flap again. So we went on the internet and looked for a new cat. The first one we made enquires about had just gone to a new home. The next phone number on the list of cats seeking a good home turned out to be an answering machine that didn't do what the voice said it would do, i.e. ring back. So we tried the next number and we got this handsome cat. He was called Ginger, for obvious reasons, but we decided to rename him as we had just lost a cat called Ginger. Basil was decided on because he has a permanently bushy tail. Just like the fox of the same name.
Anyway today I took him to the vet for his inoculation. The vet took one look at him and declared that he was a Maine Coon cat. I'd never heard of the breed so when I got home I had a look on the www. He may not be a pure Maine Coon cat but a lot of his ancestry is. So it looks like we have an American living with us.
A couple of days after we got Basil, a neighbour a few doors down knocked on the door. Between our back gardens and the cliff face there is a 15 foot wide stretch of wild ground. He’d been looking over his garden wall and noticed a ginger cat lying in the weeds. At first he thought it was asleep but some realised he wasn’t. He came round and told us so we were able collect Ginger and bury him in his favourite corner of the garden.

Attempting to Over Ride

Yesterday morning started badly. I had a slightly earlier start than usual, 08:01 so the alarm clock was set for 07:01 so I could be out at 07:40 to catch a bus at 07:45. The alarm went off at it's appointed time but I didn't wake up. Now I have two cats, one is dead clever, knows exactly what the alarm going of means; fed in 10 minutes. If I don't wake up he puts his nose in my ear and sneezes. Having your ear syringed by the cat is enough to wake all but the dead. The other cat is too much of a gentleman to spread cat germs all over my ear drum and, more to the point doesn't know the alarm means food. Normally the cats aren't allowed in the bedroom but one had got in during the night when I went to the loo. So when the alarm went off and I didn't stir which cat would I want sleeping on the bed? Right, the clever sod. Which one was sleeping on the bed? Right, the other one. I finally woke at 07:35. I got to the bus stop 11 seconds before the bus arrived, close. I was almost late for the second time in ten years.

So I was a bit grumpy when I got to work. So I went up to the canteen to get a cup of coffee from the machine. 35p a cup, I only had a pound coin in my pocket but the machine gives change. It did give change but only 5p. 95p for a cup of coffee. I desperately needed something to cheer me up and that some thing arrived at Manor Corner in the shape of 6 teenagers. First one asked for a child single to Brixham as did the second. The next 3 had passes and the last asked for a child single to Paignton Bus Station. Now these 6 were all together so the last one asking for a ticket only as far as Paignton, 90p less stuck in the memory. And as you might guess none of the boys got of when I got to Paignton. Big smile on face, I went upstairs and looked at the holder of the Paignton ticket and said,"This is Paignton Bus Station. If you want to go further you have to pay more." When he got off and walked away there was the warm glow of a job well done.

The day looked distinctly brighter.