The Queen

Yes, Indie was what’s known as a breeding queen in the cat-fancy world! She raised three litters before being allowed to retire and disrupt the multi-cat household in which she now lived a ‘normal life’, to the point which they put her up for adoption three years ago. We were the lucky winners of the prospective cat parenting competition. Now she mostly sleeps (beside me on my pillow) or runs around climbing . In summer she catches prey and brings it inside. I had to post this because it’s three years and two days since we brought her to our home. She spent the first few hours hiding behind the sofa.

Today was exceptionally busy from noon onwards. S rang, he had not had a good day on his actual birthday, so we decided to meet for coffee. We looked for a present for his sister, whose birthday is today, then decided to go to Gloucester Quays, the designer outlet, to find something, Flatmate E joined us and we took the train. The Afghani pizza place they wanted to visit had moved and was not yet serving pizza, do we went to KFC instead. Then the present hunting began in earnest. We had to visit every suitable shop in the centre twice before S chose something! At one point he mentioned that there was a difference between handbags for single women and those for married women. I started a game of ‘single or married?’ with the handbags, and E joined in, but S got the hump with us. He is easily offerended. I still don’t know the difference…

After many hours, we had presents (handbag and wallet from E, perfume gift set from S) and then we had to go to Hallmark and buy gift bags, wrapping paper and tape. Thr shop assistant would not lend us scissors, so we had to wrap the presents on a bench, tearing the paper with our hands and biting the tape…

Then E and S rushed off to S’s sister’s flat to deliver the presents, while I waked to the station. We reunited, and got on the train, when suddenly there was a phone call from sister S, inviting us to her party! We jumped off the train just in time and went to her flat, where she was surrounded by serversl
women and many children. We had a fabulous meal sitting cross legged on the floor around a carpet (I was allowed to raise my plate to my knees, thank goodness) and then I invented games and played with the children while the women did hair and make -up for ages so they could pose for the Insta-style birthday cake shots and reels. I am not used to this level of curation, but then again, I am not 24. I am more interested in singing happy birthday, blowing candles, and eating the cake!

After the cake had been put in slices into takeaway boxes, we rushed off to catch the last train. Fortunately there was no Groundhog Day incident, and we got back to Stroud and walked home. Did I mention that it was a really cold day and that the water in Gloucester Docks was partially frozen? It was raining in Stroud. By the time I got home, I’d walked 21,000 steps, most of them carrying a heavy bag (I had bought three cans of soup and a plantain in Stroud before I realised I was going to Gloucester).

After this epic afternoon out, I went straight to bed. Favourite part of the day? Playing with the children, including teaching a two year old boy to overcome his fear of being hit by balloons.