I hope you had a very joyous and peaceful Christmas.
At this time of year it's important for us all to remember
not to fall for the right wing propaganda that tries to tell us somebody
somewhere is offended by our celebrating the birth of Christ. They're not, especially
not Muslims who have been criminally demonised by the press and by my personal
least favourite atheist Richard Dawkins.
I have always loved Christmas and feel great sympathy for
those who struggle through it because they are remembering loved ones lost. I
lost my beautiful little black cat who was very special and bright and only 3
years old on December 2nd. I cried for 5 days. Bubbles had belonged to my next
door neighbour then became mine just recently after she had 3 kittens one of
which stayed with the neighbour and is actually here for a wee visit now. Like
Bubbles, Scruffy is very small even for a female cat which she is. As I wrote
that last sentence she jumped up onto the back of my desk chair right next to my
head to see what I was up to.
As my neighbour said Scruffy is "simple" and very
sweet, when she bites you in play she doesn't dig her teeth in at all, just
puts them round your fingers gently. Bubbles would occasionally scratch
me and often scold me for not waking up early enough to let her back in after
her pre-dawn adventures. It was so sweet being meowed at in admonishment by this tiny little soul. She had a habit of following me a long way on my walks
and that stopped in the autumn when she ran out into the road and was hit by a car but was miraculously fine. I heard a loud bang and screamed and it was
very upsetting. It happened again on the busy road in front of my flat on
December the 2nd only I wasn't there. Another neighbour knocked on my door to
tell me a black cat (of which we have many right around here) had been knocked
down and put into a police car. I panicked hoping it wasn't Bubbles but also
not Allycat who is black but with a little white patch. Allycat's been visiting
me regularly for about 5 or 6 year and he is a lovely old boy. It was all a
nightmare because after phonecalls and a visit to the police I had got nowhere
and it turned out it was Ministry of Defence Police which we have loads of here
in Helensburgh thanks to H.M.N.B Faslane. They had taken her to the nearest
vet. I saw her and she was full of painkillers, the vet kindly gave us some
hope when really there was none. He called me about 9.30 that night to tell me
she had gone.
People agreed that it's the bright adventurous ones that go
and I was reminded of the cliche about curiosity killing the cat. Everyone who
knew Bubbles loved her. She was a highly intelligent little beauty.
I loved her so much and it cut me to pieces.
Now Scruffy has just let me know she wants to go out and
I've nervously let her out. I'm not so worried about her but perhaps I should
be. Do I want another cat? Yes to the point of checking the rescue cat pictures
on the net quite often. I love cats so much and I want them to be free outdoors
cats but I am very scared of losing another to the deadly motorcar.
So this year has been horrible in many ways. I’m not going
to go in to my personal ups and downs of the year but I’ve had some pretty low
points. I'd also like to remember Ray Manzarek of the Doors my favourite band,
Philip Chevron of the Pogues, my other favourite band (I only have two I
promise) Nelson Mandela and Colin Wilson. The last two came right after
Bubbles.
Despite their monopoly of social media I do not intend to
turn this into a Cat lover’s blog. Writing this was therapy. I know that I will
miss my lovely little Bubbles for a very long time. At my age I just need a little
one to love. But I promise I will not make a habit of blogging about the cats,
it’s just not what I want this to be.
So at the very end of unlucky 2013 I could not be looking
forwards to the new year with any more anticipation.
Wishing everyone a very auspicious and happy 2014.
