All kinds of odd

Oddness abounds.

It all started yesterday, with an early morning phone call to tell me that my double glazing was ready for fitting. We've been waiting for this, but without an exact date we couldn't really make any arrangements.

The Monsters needed to be put into cattery and doggery.

Easier said than done. Willow started spitting when she saw the carriers. Holly hid on top of the kitchen cupboards. Frankie tried to blend in with the brown sofa. He is all black so it wasn't wholly unwasted. Ozzie ignored me. Ellie tried to climb up the wall. Charlie skulked around.
Charlie, bless his orange fur, simply looked defeated and walked into his carrier.

Ellie and Frankie were wrestled in together with only minimal bloodshed. Willow and Holly were eventually coaxed into their separate carriers, although the hoover was deployed to get them down from their respective hidey holes.

That left Oz. And we only have four carriers.

This never used to be a problem. Harvey and Frankie would share, Ellie and Charlie would share and Willow and Holly had their own. Willow and Holly don't share well, with the exception of their claws.

Now we have Oz. He adores Charlie, so the plan was to squidge them in together. My two fat boys.

Charlie had other ideas. He wanted that carrier to himself, and he refused to budge. This of course was a problem as we don't have another carrier. We briefly toyed with the idea of putting him in with Willow or Holly, but decided pretty quickly that it wouldn't work. With the sheer effort it takes to get Frankie and Ellie in, it wasn't worth getting them out and swapping them around.

So...

This is embarrassing.

We put Oz in a wicker picnic basket. And did the buckles up.

We had to borrow my parents Land Rover to get there. Even with years of playing Tetris, there was just no way that three adults, five baskets containing six cats and a car sick rottweiler were going to fit in a small three door car. Even in the Land Rover it was a tight squeeze.

We set off. Lila was sick. Oz kept toppling his basket. All six cats discovered a talent for opera. Lila was sick again. I got lost. Charlie started howling. Holly joined in. Oz tried to escape the basket. Lila was sick again.

Of course, the cats refused to leave their carriers when we arrived. Ellie was so reluctant to enter the cattery that she managed to hang on when the carrier was completely vertical.
Thankfully Lila trotted off with nary a backwards glance.

I went to work. I had a meeting to get to. Naturally I rushed there, arriving with seconds to spare, to find out that he was running late and only had a few minutes to spare.

My meeting, for which I had spent an hour on the train, lasted seven and a half minutes. I'm so glad that I bothered to show up.

So I sat down, and enjoyed the three hours I had to kill before my next meeting. I wandered through London, arriving on time at my next client. To find out that she was in Manchester. Meeting cancelled.

I went home to a very empty house. Not that I stayed for long, as I had to pick up the Boy and my sister from Heathrow airport. They had spent the week in Mauritius, and as my sister's birthday present (she was 26 yesterday), I agreed to pick her up.

So my mother and I set off, braving rush hour traffic through roadworks. It took forever. My sister's bag was held up, and so I drove round the airport several times. I had to illegally park so that I could run in before I wet myself, and then finally I saw the Boy.

If you were at Heathrow last night, I'd just like to apologise on behalf of the excited small blonde boy who screamed and dropped his bags when he saw Auntie and Nanny waiting for him. If he ran into you before he threw himself at me, I'd also like to apologise.

So we then came back through the traffic. And went home to a very empty house.

But, this was all for a purpose; well maybe not the jaunt to Heathrow. At a very indecent hour this morning, there was a knock at the door and the first of many requests for a cup of tea. I left for work shortly after every single window had been ripped out.

When I got home, all was complete, although the teabags had all mysteriously disappeared. It looks great. We have a front door that actually shuts properly, and windows that can be locked in an open position without kitties making an escape. No more condensation. It cost a small fortune but it needed to be done.

I cannot describe how empty the house feels without the Monsters. I'm constantly looking for them, wondering where they are. This morning, I tripped over the Baron's white socks (he is really crap about puttng them in the washing basket) and black shirt, and apologised to what I thought was Ozzie!

I keep finding myself checking the time because I am ready to walk Lila. I found myself standing in the kitchen holding the kibble tub for the cats wondering where they all were.

Still, they will all be back home tomorrow morning. I can't wait!