Halfway through June and the blog post is already going up. It must be a good month.
For real though, it has been. So much has gone on, I’m definitely feeling a bit more positive than the last few posts have probably come across. I kicked off the month still on a high from going to Radio 1′s Big Weekend at the end of May - which really was as amazing as you’d expect, and then some. Despite the many showers I had afterwards, I’m pretty sure I entered June with traces of glitter still in my hair (and Phill suffered the same fate second-hand, bless him).
The excitement of the month started on the very first day of it. You’ll probably know I’ve had my cat, Posie, for nearly four years now. Here she is in all her gorgeous feline glory:
I first got Posie in August 2014, when she must’ve been about four weeks old - the managers of the shop I worked in at the time found her in the woods, and brought her to me since they couldn’t keep her because of their dogs (and because they knew I’d been sorely tempted to get a cat). Since at the time I lived in a small top-floor flat with no way for her to get in and out while I was out at work during the day, I had to keep her as a house cat. This has meant she’s had a pretty sheltered upbringing. It was just the two of us for so long, that it’s only recently she’s started to be alright around other people (by that I mean she doesn’t hiss and growl at every person who isn’t me within the first five seconds of spotting them). Of course, she’s used to Phill living with us now too, and we live in a bigger house with more room for her to play, or to hide away if she doesn’t feel like being sociable. So her temperament is generally loads better, even with other people - when our landlord came to visit, he seemed oblivious to the fact that Phill and I were rendered speechless at seeing Posie rubbing herself all over his legs and purring like an engine. But, despite the fact that we’ve started to let her snoop around the back garden on sunny days, I was under no illusions that she would have quite as warm an attitude towards another cat. The above photos were taken on May 31st, when we spent a good chunk of the day cwtched up on the sofa together - I was making the most of it because I figured that after that she’d have it in for us all for a bit for disrupting her peace. Because the next day, we brought in a new addition.
Yup, we finally got a new little kitty buddy. :) Jess and Liam were looking after his mama for a friend when she had her litter, so we met and even had our first cuddles with Albus when he was only three days old. Naturally he was still a bit anxious when we took him home without his brothers and sister, but he settled in so quickly - he had a little snoop around the place before deciding to settle down and watch The Office with Phill, who very quickly became his favourite thing.
Posie, on the other hand ...
Her eyes bulged like saucers as soon as she spotted movement in his carrier, and then she took herself upstairs to the office and pretty much didn’t come back down for two days, even for food. Once she realised her protest wasn’t going to get rid of the intruder, she started to allow herself to associate with Phill and I again - only when strictly necessary - and if Albus came near her, she was absolutely not having it; there would be hissing and growling until he backed the hell up, thank you very much. She was never actively aggressive or violent towards him though, just defensive. It became obvious that she was absolutely petrified of the little dude. The problem with this - or maybe the saving grace of it - was that, after the initial shock of being growled at a couple times, Albus decided not to take any notice of her attitude. Concluding that he would take his chances on his face being ripped off, he resolved to make Posie his friend whether she liked it or not. Which, at first, she definitely did not. She came down to greet me when I got home from work one night and I watched Albus take the opportunity to bound right up to her, only dodging at the last second when he realised that her ears being flat against her head and her literal snorts of fury meant that perhaps she wasn’t in the mood to play.
But then we got a Feliway Friends diffuser. We’d used Feliway when we first moved into the new house, to help Posie settle into her new surroundings, and it had worked like a charm - she warmed to the new house, and to Phill, in a matter of days. So I reckon it was a combination of that and of Albus’ sheer bravery that led to the defining moment just a couple of days after the above incident. It was sunny, and Posie was sunbathing on the windowsill, lying belly up, basking in the warmth. She had her eyes closed, so she didn’t notice Albus jump up onto the back of the sofa right behind her. I thought I’d better warn her so she wasn’t unprepared if she tried to jump on her - since I was sitting on the sofa myself, I didn’t fancy being in their line of fire if they rocketed off the windowsill in a ball of claws and spit. I called her name, and as she opened her eyes, they landed on him instead of me. I braced myself for her to hiss and launch herself away as he’d dared to get so close. But instead, she simply flinched, and let out a small, squeaky “mrarp!” sound, like she does when she spots a bird through the window. She stretched her body for a moment, still on her back, and reached her paws out towards him ... then rolled over, unperturbed, giving him the go-ahead to come onto the windowsill with her.
Since then, Albus follows Posie pretty much everywhere - into other rooms, to her favoured chill-out spots, even to the litter tray. Don’t get me wrong, she’ll still throw the occasional hiss at him if she’s not in the mood, and she will readily give him a battering - Phill and I were literally weak with laughter last night as Albus pawed at Posie from inside the laundry basket, and she turned and pummelled the top of his head like a whack-a-mole. But they’re playing, rather than fighting it out, and it’s the most adorable thing to watch when they chase each other around the room. We never dreamed they’d accept each other this quickly. They’re not exactly cuddle buddies yet, but watch this space!
In other news this month, I had something else incredibly exciting to look forward to. About ten years ago, my friend Dominic moved to Canada. Having been one of my best friends since we were seven or eight, I was pretty cut up about it. He came back for a visit at Christmas time in 2008, but apart from that and the odd Skype call, the last time I’d seen him was when he looked like this:
To Dom’s credit, he’d been hounding me to come to Canada and see him in almost every conversation we’d had since he left - it just wasn’t something that ever happened. So you can imagine my excitement when he sent me a message in January to say he was coming back to visit again.
So the day finally came last Sunday, and Phill and I took the train into Cardiff. I scouted the area outside central station - bearing in mind that we mainly kept in touch over messenger, my last face-to-face reference was the picture above, and I was almost anxious I wouldn’t recognise him. We eventually established that we did, in fact, walk past each other once or twice. But as I phoned him to find out what colour shirt I was supposed to be looking for, I clocked him outside the Great Western and realised I could’ve spotted his grin from a mile off. Given that he only ever came up to my shoulders the whole time he lived here, I was fully prepared for the first thing he did (after the giant hug) being to point out that he is now, marginally, taller than me. Apart from that minor detail, and the Canadian twang in his accent, not much had changed. The three of had lunch in Spoons, met Ashleigh for a drink, and then all went back to our house so Jess and Liam could come over and see him too. When you’ve been close with someone for that long, it’s always easy to pick things up, no matter how far apart you’ve been or for how long. It really was so wonderful to see him again. :)
Aside from all this, I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently. After a reading slump right throughout March, I was steadily getting back into it, as I mentioned last month. And then, earlier this month, Louise Pentland set up a group on Facebook called Wilde Readers! for her followers who have not only read and loved her novel Wilde Like Me (which I did on both counts late last year), but who are also just bookworms in general. It’s such a nice little community to be a part of! At the moment it’s a closed group, but requests to join are generally accepted by Lousie’s sister Tiyana. It’s not there for promo, or book clubs, or swaps or anything like that - it’s just a page where you can post and chat about all things bookish. Be warned though - as much as your literary appetites may thank you for joining, your bank balance may not! I’ve bought five books since joining. Oops. One of them was Giovanna & Tom Fletcher’s Eve Of Man, which in fairness I would have bought anyway, but I was spurred on by the fact that it was arguably the most talked-about book in the group following its release. I burned through that in a couple of days; it really does live up to the hype! After I’d finished that, I went straight on to Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, which I was given by my lovely friend Lauren from work when I said I’d been in two minds about buying it. I’m really interested to see what that one will be like - I’ve heard it’s unusual, and I’m still at the stage right now where I’m not quite sure what to make of it yet. I’m also re-reading Goblet of Fire right now, but I’m keeping that for bedtime reading as it’s a big hunk of a book, so it’s a bit heavy to be taking in my bag for the train journey to & from work, which is when most of my reading gets done. If you’re into reading - no matter what genre - Louise’s group is definitely worth checking out, as there are so many people posting reviews and recommendations for all kinds of books.
Last - but by no means least - the 8th of this month marked two years since Sarah and I passed up our planned jogging session in favour of going to a beach barbecue with her friend from work who I’d never met before, and who I’d eventually fall head over heels in love with. I mentioned it to him before I left for work in the morning, and when I came home that night I found a gorgeous bunch of flowers waiting on the mantelpiece for me. :) Otherwise, we didn’t really do anything to mark the day, as I was on a late shift. But we’ve booked our first little getaway together for our actual anniversary in August - three nights in a hotel in Frome, day tickets to Longleat for the actual day of our anniversary, and a full day the next day to explore Frome, Bath or Glastonbury. So there’s a blog post just waiting to happen already!
For the moment though, that’s pretty much it. I don’t think I’ve really got any big plans for July, that I know of - but I’m sure we’ll find something to natter about in the meantime. :) Hope your month is going just as nicely so far! xx
