Day to day musings of a cat minder/ sitter in North Tyneside and Newcastle upon Tyne . For details of services go to http://www.catminders.biz

Welcome to CatMinders

Welcome to CatMinders


Sunday, 30 September 2007

When I was away ...


Jess and Pearl , fed up , allegedly by my absence . Taken by D ......
Without my laptop , its harder to put pictures on . Without my laptop ? Where is my laptop ?

Saturday, 29 September 2007

A battered pound puppy


Found this morning . One battered pound puppy . The cats carry them around and treat them alternately like treasured kittens , or offending rodents . Take your pick .

Looking for the possible beach hut ....


To Holy Island again , this time in search of a possible beach hut . Sally , who does my acupuncture , told me her friend made a beach hut at Holy Island out of wood and assorted debris ( she s an artist ) , and English heritage came and took it down . then she built one from stone , and its been allowed .
We did also harbour a longing to see the causeway to the island flood over at High Tide , so checked the tides accordingly , and spent an hour at the island collecting crinoids ( as ever ) , then searching out , but failing to find , the alleged beach hut . We clearly need better directions . I was panicking too in case we were stranded , but even though we left after the safe time , there was no sign of water . As it looked like we would have to sit there waiting for the water for another hour , we retired to the hotel up the road for a coffee , and drove back , as we thought , with ample time . But , amazement ... the water was right across the causeway and had we been five minutes later we would have missed the entire spectacle .
The little boy in the photo right happily flew a kite and paddled in the water throughout , loving the way the water washed fast past him across the road .
There was no seals audible today . Everything silent save the bird cries .

Friday, 28 September 2007

Speed Fiends

Either I still have Immigran or Syndol in my system , or I am so laid back by the ending of the Day Job for the week . Whichever , I sleep again until the alarm at seven forty five . Well rested , I feel somehow that I have missed some of the day , slept the time away . No matter that given half a chance , or even quarter of a chance I will happily lay down my head wherever I can and sleep an hour or three , afternoons , early evenings , whenever the chance arises . But , in the mornings , it seems something has been wasted .

Still no laptop .


I fret this morning about the car .
The lettter from the Speed Fiends course ( organised by Drive Tech , and properly named a Speed Awareness Course ) makes it clear that those arriving late will not be admitted , indeed those arriving unfit to take participate properly by way of excess alcohol or drug consumption , will likewise be sent away and their file returned to the Police Authority . And the dreaded points added to the licence , no doubt . Thus , my agitation about being held up in trafic , getting lost ( despite checking the route yesterday ) etc etc , is increased last night , when , attempting to do a cat call at seven pm , the car will not start . A follow up to having to call out the AA a couple of weeks ago , pre Edinburgh , when it failed as I was driving . A coil pack , I am told , but no evidence for which one . Keep going till it happens again . And here we are , the night before Speed Fiends and its going to drop dead right when I need it most .
I turn the key enough times to flood the engine , decide to abandon it and push it out of the way so we can take D s car to the CatCall , and , one last turn and it takes off.

And , miracles , it starts first thing this morning , and due to my Lateness Anxiety Issues , I arrive at Speed Freaks with a good fifteen minutes to spare . I have brought a novel to read in the car , but as I approach the parking area , there are two smartly attired men waiting to greet me , and advise me about parking . This is a nice touch as they are polite and welcoming and let me know that once I have parked there is coffee waiting . I decide to forego my fourteen minutes reading and walk on into the waiting room . Shock , Horror ! I am not first there , as usual at such things , but the room is almost full . Of men . Sheepish , embarrased , pink cheeked , smiling and glancing furtively at the latest newcomer . But they are all men .
I can't face coffee . I sit and the man next to me smiles . Hard on my heels another man joins us , and breaks the silence , chuckling " well here we are then , the law breakers" . I try hard not to giggle myself and start to look around . I cannot believe that all of these people have arrived so early , many of them look as if they have been there quite some time .
The two welcoming men introduce themselves and check out our ID all the time smiling warmly and offering drinks . I start to relax though I still wonder , am I the Only Female Speeder in Northumberland . And then oh Joy , in walks another woman , and , would you credit it , someone I know slightly through work , from around thirteen years ago !

We all file up upstairs to computer desks and a special tutorial is arranged for a man who has never used a computer mouse before . Much of the initial part of the course involves an interactive test , the results of which are handed to you and you can see whether you have problems with speed generally , thrill seeking , reaction times to hazards , concentration , tiredness whilst driving etc .

I come out with good results on everything bar concentration and this is accurate . I decided to answer strictly honestly rather than massaging the results , and have to admit that though when aware of speed limits I always do slow right down to the limit , my problems arise when Im daydreaming . On the day I was caught on camera , doing 34 mph in Haydon Bridge ( like many of the others on the course , interestingly ) , I was never even aware of the camera , which caught me leaving the town . And though my road tests where I had to assess the rights speeds and distances etc were fine , I clearly need to concentrate more and drift off less.
I saw from my fellow Fiends that some of them had definite Issues of speeding , generally driving faster than average , closer to other cars , and in the case of some of them, using the car to " deal with emotional issues " . Now there's a thing . ( I scored low on emotion , which apparently is good . probably accurate , I'm not one to swear at other drivers , except D when he is frightening me with his Speeds , but thats another story ) .

The time flashed past , and fascinatingly some of the men started to get a little stroppy by the end , challenging the facilitators on the letters from Drivetech , and critisising the way they had not initially been offered the course rather than points on their licence . These points were all handled admirably and as a trainer I enjoyed seeing how they were manged , with a smile and a confident response .
As we all left , I joked with M about how we would all drive off at a much reduced speed , but in fact it took me several minutes to get any speed at all , thanks to my dodgy coil . Dead as a dodo. How embarrasing ......

Later in the day , I feel minded to make Rocky Road , a Nigella cake/ biscuit item which seemed fitting .
And now Im gearing myself up for more acupuncture .

Wednesday, 26 September 2007

Days like these .... ( with migraine )

Migraine again .
Awake very early again and listening to the wind and reading the Memory Keeper book again and not going back to sleep . Up early and N helping me chose a top to wear for work and all going well and looking forward to work as some interesting meetings today then suddenly as N was talking to me , bang , that feeling of " I cant see anything properly" then the familiar twizzling lights whirring across my vision and making me feel my control on things is fading .
Its time to leave for work but I go to lie down for ten minutes hoping I might be able to magic it away by the power of thought . But no , and a dose of Immigran doesnt do much either so I have to phone in sick and within minutes Im fast asleep , relief , and when I wake ( four phone calls right in my ear ) the lights have all faded but the sickness and headache linger .
It could be worse , though I cant help remembering the last time it was like this , started not too bad then got much worse the following day .
Fingers crossed .
And at least now I have all the medication to dose myself via suppositories , sorry too much information , possibly , thus saving the emergency docs a night time visit .

Our vouchers arrived for the Trowelling on Makeover Event .
My laptop is still Disappeared.
And there is a thin black cat in the garden . His name is Ivan .

Tuesday, 25 September 2007

Days like This

There are days , not many of them admittedly , but there are days when its wonderful to wake at four forty am . I lie there trying to to guess the time . Its still dark and very very quiet . No heating revving up so its pre that time when its not worth going back to sleep . And as I lie there , the rain starts . A gentle , insistent rain which reminds me of primroses in the woods , snowdrops in clumps around and about on the farm where my grandparents lived . It sounds loud , outside and the bed is warm and soft . The door is closed so no cats nipping the toes or squeaking their greetings as they sense movement . I have to know the time ....
And then my mind fills up , and the rain , still there , can't compete with the noise in my head , and though I try for minutes on end , there is no escape and finally I pick up my book , The Memory Keeper's Daughter . And before I know it half an hour has passed and I am drifting away again .

Monday, 24 September 2007

they trowel on the make up

saturday afternoon , as I sat propped up in bed with hot water bottle , trying to avert tummy disasters , a phone call from somewhere unknown , to tell me that a few weeks ago N had entered me for something . Sounded like she was saying a Mother Appreciation Event . What ? Wasnt I aware that my daughter had done this , she asked . No . Well she did and I had come out of the draw , and as a result if I could book now , myself and N had won a make over and hairstyle in a beauty salon in Newcastle and we would be there three hours and they would dress us in glamorous attire and take our photos and give us one free one and there would be absolutely no pressure on us to buy any of them and we could have that last fact in writing ( alarm bells start to ring ) , and we could bring a glamorous top if we liked but if not they would have silk sheets they could wrap us in and feather boas etc . Well ! It all sounded very exciting . I booked a date and then rang N , whop was in town with her friends . her screams I am sure were audible as far as the beauty salon , wherever it turns out to be .

then I texted my sister and she told me oh yes she had won one once and they give you a great time , trowelling on the make up in order to make you look presentable , then use a lot of clever lights and soft focus things to make upi look glamrous , but in her case they did get very shirty when she professed herself unable or unwilling to shell out the hundreds of pounds they were asking for the photos , whioch having seen projected onto the wall , she was longing to take home . But no , it was not to be and the woman even asked why she had come if she didnt intend to buy . Oh , she said , I thought I had won a make over .

I reserve judgement . For my part , however wonderful the pictures I remain sure I would be able to resist , though less sure perhaps that N s pleas will be so easy to say no to .
We shall see .
I will keep you posted .
Anyone else had this experience ? All advice gratefully received .

Migraine Days

Migraine Days

Flower and Bee on a Sunday

Flower and Bee on a Sunday

art on a sunday

art on a sunday