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Benjamin: An English Gentleman's Thoughts

Goodbye, my beautiful man

We have such sad and sudden news this evening.
At about 11pm Benjamin came home, then started howling and staggering, before collapsing. He was breathing very fast and trying to give a loud rattly purr when I stroked him. I set off with him for the emergency vet but shortly before we arrived he began to moan, gave some rattly coughs, and he had passed away before we arrived.
The vet - and I - think it must have been his heart. He still looks so beautiful and healthy. He was 12 or 13, my lovely man, my ginger tom, and we'll miss him so badly. I know Boxie's special orange purrs will have been with him on his journey.

Strangers!

I've always been very afraid of strangers. I am a fabulous big, strong, might, beautiful Ginger Tomcat but apart from Mum people just scare me. Once I managed to give a headbump to Mum's sister. Everyone was amazed by it but I felt it was only polite to do it. But that was it. In the eight and a half years since I have lived with Mum she has never seen me make contact voluntarily with another human. Until yesterday. The Rector was here having a cup of tea with Mum, when I got up in the morning (at my usual hour of about midday!), so I went to Mum, headbumped her hand, then I did the same to the Rector (being polite again) then stood for him to stroke me, and I even managed a purr! I knew I was brave, but twice in eight and a half years is really, really brave in my book. And I quite liked it! But I did say a rude word to him when he left, just so that no one would think I was a pushover!

Earthquake!

Well! Well I never! Goodness!
We had an earthquake last night!
I know you have all sorts of Big Events in the USA but they hardly ever happen over here in the UK and last night we - Ferdie, Isobel, Harriet and I - were just a few miles from the epicentre of the biggest earthquake the UK has had since 1984! 5.2 on the Richter scale, whatever that might mean!
It came at 1am. Mum was just going to bed, when a terrible noise happened, and the whole house shook, and a few things rolled off shelves, and Mum's bedtime tea sloshed out of the mug.
Harriet shot off the bed so fast you couldn't see her, Isobel crept round the house on her tummy with her fur on end, and Ferdie bustled around wishing she was capable of making cups of tea. I ran outside and hid under the car in case the house fell down.
But we were very lucky, and there was no real damage here. The damage that did happen was a bit further away from the epicentre than we were. Even there few people were hurt and the damage was mainly chimneys falling off houses.
Mum has had phone calls all day today, and she says that at last people know where she lives; we live in the tiny village of South Kelsey near the little town of Market Rasen, and now the whole country is talking about the Market Rasen earthquake, which is quite good but none of us - including Mum - liked the quake at all!