We didn’t make it back to the taxi rank until nine o’clock this evening, but make it we did, and here I am.
Northampton is a jolly long way.
It was a good job we went, though Mark spent this morning dismantling and reassembling Lucy’s plumbing. This was not because she was in need of a new central heating system, but because none of her taps seemed to be working.
The ones in the bathroom were not working so drastically that they would not release water at all. They disintegrated into a rusty puddle when Mark took them off, and Lucy and I went to B&Q for some new ones. Of course she could have asked her landlord to fix them, but these things take ages and ages and sometimes it is just easier to do things yourself.
In the end it was all done, and we had a very late breakfast together in the camper van. Lucy was fidgety and excited because today is the day when she acquires her kittens.
She has been looking forward to this very much, and an appropriate name for a kitten has been much discussed. In the end she decided to have two because of feeling that a cat alone in her flat might be lonely. I agreed with this. She has got to go back to work tomorrow and a police officer’s shift is a very long time for a little creature to be abandoned by itself.
We went today to purchase a litter tray and some cat litter. The key to successful pet ownership rests on these arrangements being thoroughly catered for. Few things present a less encouraging start to the day than the discovery that in fact, your sanitary aspirations for your pet have been ignored, and you have now got poo squidging between your toes.
We thought that it was important to make a good start on this successful management of this detail, and hence a cat litter tray was purchased. It had to be of an optimum size, not too big so that it would be tripped over but not so small as to send sprays of cat accidents squirting all over the walls.
Pet ownership is a complicated affair.
They seem to have been christened Cassandra and Penelope, which will probably both get shortened to Kitty. This has happened to every cat I have ever owned, and might be just as well because they are unusual names to be bawling across a Midlands council estate at bedtime.
We did not have time to hang about and see the new kittens, but when we spoke to her later she seemed contented with their activities, and reported an initial litter tray success.
It is quite shocking to find yourself suddenly responsible for the well-being and continued existence of another creature for the first time. It is generally a good idea to start with a kitten before having a go at a baby.
It will be a Good Thing.
We had to rush off because of getting home in time for work, but the traffic was so terrible we listened to the whole of the end of Vanity Fair during the return journey, and it took us six hours. Most of the rest of the motorway seemed to be going to Blackpool, which I secretly envied them, and I knitted six inches of my new cardigan whilst stuck behind them.
We finished Vanity Fair, I suspect I am Becky Sharp in my soul, just fortunately married to Captain Dobbin. It is a splendid book, and I will have to find another quite quickly, because we set off for Gordonstoun the day after tomorrow.
We spent much of the morning contemplating the hypnotic adventures of the night before. We have all decided that we would like to be Derren Brown when we grow up.
It was splendid.
