Car and cats

This morning it finally stopped raining, and I valeted the car. After carefully waxing him and cleaning his glass and trims, I went inside to freshen his fabric, clean the leather and vinyl and remove the numerous crisp and sweet packets that R had left in there.

I had left the back door open because it was a nice day, and although Amber is reluctant to use the cat flap, she likes to have a little amble into to the garden and eat grass for sicking up later. I was happily polishing away and listening to 1930s music, when I glanced up and saw a black cat right at the end of the driveway about 100m from the house. I immediately thought it was Amber, and was a bit worried because she has never gone that far from the back door before, and I didn’t want her to run out into the main drive that leads to the road.

So I leapt out of the car leaving the doors open and went into the drive to call for her. As I got closer, I started to experience some doubts. Was it Amber? It looked just like her – black with yellow eyes – but was it a bit thinner? I called R “Look out of your window” I said “Is that Amber?” As R was coming down the stairs, Saphy arrived behind me. She instantly turned side on and puffed her tail out. It was obvious at this point that the other cat was not Amber, but an interloper, presumably the same one as I saw a few months ago, but grown much larger.

The new cat was neither frightened nor friendly. It let me give it a quick stroke, sniffed me, and then went about its own business. Saphy was not terrified but clearly was glad to see it go.

The car looks good now. I went to a lot of trouble, but one thing I did not do was clean the tyres – it is seems an exercise in pointlessness (unless you are selling it) as they would immediately just get muddy again.