The Great Escape

Today

We have decided to take Abby with us when we go to London for Christmas. She likes to be near us and to have human company. I'm sure there are people who'd pop in and feed her if we asked, but she'd be alone all the rest of the time and the cattery, however much they might like to give her attention, will have others to deal with.

In My Day

When we lived at Belmont in Brighton we illegally kept cats. At the time of David's wedding in 1972 we had Ajax, a bold little mackerel tabby and Annelise, a sweet tabby and white. Going away presented problems; we could hardly ask a neighbour to feed the cats, as our illegal ownership would then be rumbled, and affording a cattery was beyond our means, to say the least.

So we asked our friends at the Gatehouse in Wilmington to look after them for a couple of nights. They had plenty of space and were used to cats.

When we returned to Brighton after the wedding I phoned said friend to ask when it would be convenient to pop over to collect the cats. "Well", said Eileen "That's if you can find them." Apparently they'd both dashed outdoors at some point. The house at Wilmington was a level crossing house, and once the cats were loose, they were so spooked by the sounds of the crossing gates and the passing trains that they became completely elusive. Ajax did once appear, actually sitting on the windowsill, but Eileen and Andy were inept and let him escape.

We drove over and wandered around the garden, calling and calling. They didn't appear and I never saw them again. I hope that they found new and good homes and weren't run over by the trains, eaten by foxes or starved to death.

Somewhere in my heart is a grain of unforgiveness for Eileen and Andy, although we remained friends. And perhaps that's because there's a grain of unforgiveness for myself for allowing a situation where this outcome was possible to occur.

I feel certain that Abby will settle just fine and she may even get a bit of turkey dinner!