I’ve been talking about the current pandemic over the last few days but I don’t really have anything to say about it today – I’ve avoided the news for the most part, and the only things that have really brought it to mind have been the things I saw while out for a walk before lunch (nothing very extraordinary, but maybe I’ll cover them in a future blog when I have the photos I took developed).
Instead I’ll tell a short tale of Stan, our cat, and what happened to him yesterday…
Stan lets himself in and out of the house when he chooses through a cat-flap and, while he goes out a lot, he’s usually making his presence known throughout the day (generally folloing us into the kitchen and begging for treats or, if it’s meal-time, nipping at my feet for attention). Yesterday afternoon howerver he was nowhere to be seen. Even after his usual mealtime there was no sign of him and, as it began to get dark, I had pangs of worry. Shouting him and shaking his treat box didn’t elicit a response.
My thoughts were that he’d either seen something interesting (maybe a mouse or an insect or something) and was now waiting patiently somewhere for his opportunity to snare it. Another alternative was that he’d gotten himself trapped somewhere. There is always the additional concern that he might be struck by a car when he’s out but, to my knowledge, his territory doesn’t reach across the road beside our house and, if it did, the current coronavirus situation means that traffic is very much reduced anyway.
Thinking he could be trapped, my first idea was to check the garage. He enjoys going in there – I think he knows he’s not supposed to and so will dart in as the door is opened if the opportunity presents itself. It was possible he’d slipped in unnoticed and gotten himself locked in. However, there was no sign when I checked.
After about another hour of him not appearing, I racked my memory to think when I’d last seen him and remembered that it was when I’d returned home after my supermarket trip – he’d been sat on the doorstep as I unloaded the bags and then, after not coming in when I’d finished, I closed the door, shutting him outside.
And then another thing struck me. About five minutes after unpacking the groceries, my wife had told me I’d left the hatch-back open on the car, so I went outside and closed it,
Could it be that he’d poked his inquisitive little nose into the car while it was opened and then gotten locked in? Why yes. Yes it could!
I went back outside and opened the boot whereupon he instantly leapt, gazelle-like, out of his prison, eliciting a loud bark of relieved laughter from me. Thankfully he wasn’t any the worse for wear (and, equally importantly, hadn’t needed the toilet while trapped!).
It’s always a worry when a cat doesn’t come home when expected, and always a big relief when they turn up safely. I will add a boot-check in future when we unload the shopping.
I maybe also need to take some more photos of him that I can easily post on the blog if required – apart from loads of Instax pictures, I think this is the only film shot I have of him (and it was the end of the roll!).
Olympus 35 RC & Eastman Double-X.
Taken on 13 September 2019
