What does any self-respecting cat do in cold weather?
Hop inside the laundry basket to keep warm...
Especially if there's a faux fur thingy down the bottom to knead.
In other news: I am having dramas trying to find a cat-sitter for when I go to the States. In fact, I'm having all sorts of dramas concerning my trip to the States, but I'll save that for another post some other time.
I plumbed my local networks for a catsitter, but strangely, no one obliged. (Perhaps they knew the cats involved -- Ed.) Then someone made the bright suggestion that I should put an ad in the local paper. This proved strangely successful -- I had two phone calls yesterday and three today. I decided to go with the two from yesterday and organised the first interview for 10 am this morning, with a woman who seemed extremely keen (she wanted to come round the night before to pip the other person at the post).
The 10 am start turned out not to be such a great idea as I got home the night before at 1.20 am. I rose in a semi-hungover state and started tidying and vacuuming at 9.30 am, tho probably not enough to please the truly anal eye. (Honestly, cleanliness is for people who don't have enough to do, as far as I'm concerned.) J arrived at about ten to ten. She was a small-ish, buxom, well-preserved woman in her 50s, the type who would have been a snub-nosed 'bubbly blonde' in her 20s (kind of the poor man's Jacki Weaver). She'd recently moved to Alice ostensibly to become a park ranger; she later hinted at a recent separation: 'You're two different people; you can't expect both to want the same thing.' He didn't want Alice it seemed; she'd moved, leaving her beloved cats Lola and Copacabana and a Labrador behind.
She made a bee-line for Lulu and Jessie; she was determined to prove her cat-friendliness from the start. Jessie immediately captivated J with her air of pensive inaccessibility. Lulu was the huge tart that she is -- on her own terms, of course. The other cats hid behind a sofa: I'd had the washing machine and the vacuum going, and now this.
Once we'd established the eagerness, cat-friendliness and diligence, etc, of J, it seemed a shame not to offer her the gig, really, and save ourselves the trouble of a second interview. Happily, that person obligingly rang and cancelled, as their boyfriend had 'come back from the mines' and wanted to do something else.
I rang J and told her she was the successful candidate, and she seemed overjoyed. She suggested that she come round at least twice, and have a cup of tea so the cats could become comfortable with her. I groaned inwardly at the thought of adding 'have cups of tea with cat-sitter' to my already prolific, pre-overseas 'to-do' list. Envisaged self saying on future occasions, 'I'm afraid I'm terribly busy at the moment -- perhaps just before I leave.' (The morning's session had taken up half an hour.)
Ten minutes after I'd gotten off the phone, there was another call from J: 'I thought I'd ring you to let you know that my husband just rang and brought Lola to the phone to talk to me.'
Lola? Oh yes, of course: her cat.
'I just want you to be reassured that I'll take good care of your cats.'
Was this woman going to ring several times a day now?
There was peace until about six o'clock, when I got a text saying there was a message on my landline. I rang my home phone messagebank: it was J.
'Awfully sorry, but I can't do the catsitting now. Something's come up. And I've had asthma all this afternoon.'
She said the thing about asthma twice: was she allergic to cats? Or was my place too dusty? Or had Copacabana been rushed to the Animal Hospital? Where did we all go wrong?
Hmmph. Seems this advertising for a catsitter thing isn't as easy as it first appeared. I've got another interviewee coming round tomorrow but I'm not holding out great hope. This person sounds quite old (like elderly -- and I have stairs). Anyway, I thought a fiftysomething might be less ditzy than the twentysomething I had last time, but it twas not so (it's true for men, too; the idea of that maturity's linked to age is a fallacy).
Why are certain members of the cat-loving community distinctly flaky (present company of course excluded)? I'm thinking tho that 'the catsitter' might be a great subject for a short film.
Ok - J sounds totally weird. Why the confirmation call, and then the withdrawal? Maybe her husband wants her back now (or she wants him back)? It sounded so promising...
Keep looking!!!
Posted by: TPS | June 25, 2007 at 09:46 AM
I dunno, what did you expect? Do you ever read the classifieds when you're feeling well-balanced? For myself, I save the classifieds for when I need to feel better about myself.
Also, that poodle is back and it's most disconcerting.
Posted by: ThirdCat | June 25, 2007 at 10:14 AM
Goodness, that sounds very snippy of me, doesn't it?
Posted by: ThirdCat | June 25, 2007 at 10:14 AM
TPS -- you know the effect I have on people.
TC -- teh poodle has gone!
There's been another taker -- a dog lady also looking for a house-sit as a trial separation (this seems to be the way to go, people, if you want a break from your partner).
At least with the doglady, there won't be any forms of enmeshed attachment.
This morning when I came downstairs, Lulu started kneading a bag of cat litter. I then realised I hadn't brought in the litter tray last night after washing it. I opened the backdoor and Lulu bounded over to where the tray was leaning against the wall and stared at it meaningfully. She's such a clever cat. (Sorry; just had to share.)
Posted by: elsewhere | June 25, 2007 at 10:59 AM
Maybe you should advertise for a housesitter, not catsitter. That's what we do - successfully so far. (I know we're in a big city, so bigger pool of sitters, still...) There are also Housesitting websites - you never know.
Posted by: suzoz | June 26, 2007 at 11:43 AM
Ah, I did put 'housesitter wanted' in the ad...
Posted by: elsewhere | June 26, 2007 at 11:56 AM
I think you had a lucky escape from catsitter woman. Am facing same problem with incontinent Bert. I want to go o/s for three or four weeks in Dec/Jan and I don't know what to do with her and can't bear thought of putting her in cat colditz for a month - not that there'll even be any places left in catteries, I'm guessing. Hope you have luck with housesitter.
Posted by: sandy webster | June 30, 2007 at 01:48 PM
Hello all from Montana while women eyeshot theirs somewhere from their mid thirties to young forties [url=http://www.89.com.ua]89.com[/url]
Fortunate for us we don't intensifier conflict that often, we like to athletics it up and make it a important production
Posted by: Gavaqueerge | April 30, 2008 at 11:38 PM