Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
Testing Times For Cats
by Russell Turner - 16:48 on 31 May 2018
Recent days have been tough ones for cats. First Matchgirl abandoned The Pride and flew to London; two days later I abandoned them too and rode to Orkney on Kawasaki San, leaving feeding and petting in the hands of neighbour Tina and two cat-loving but possibly over-enthusiastic offspring; the day after my return a stranger came to stay for two nights. Pandora was particularly put out.
All three felines slept with me during BikerMike’s brief tenure – a sure sign that they don’t feel fully secure. It’s a shame they didn’t know he has moggies of his own.
Matchgirl’s absence was for her London2Brighton ultra marathon, cut short after ‘only’ 56kms because of her poorly heel. She got a shirt and a half ultra finisher’s medal so that was some compensation. It’s still a huge achievement.
While she slogged across the South Downs I enjoyed the sights of Orkney accompanied by three other bikers. Good roads, weather and food – you can’t ask for more. The Pentax went with me but came out only for a run to the Italian Chapel, created from a Nissen hut by Italian POWs during World War II. We were lucky, our visit ending just as three coachloads of tourists arrived.
More sightseeing took place on Tuesday, with BikerMike. He’s currently bikeless, and had arrived by train, so Grandson of Seat took us from Cromarty Firth haar to the tropical west coast and the slow road back from Ullapool via Gairloch. The Seat’s air conditioning struggled to cope with 26ºC. Who needs to go abroad?
Normality (for cats) returned on Wednesday when Mike left and peace reigned again at The Rural Retreat. This might explain why Willow and Maia were out and about after dark, giving our black cat the opportunity of a close encounter with Brock, who visits every night, although I’ve yet to see him in the flesh.
Despite the heat, training runs continue ahead of proper training for t’ Yorkshire Marathon. And my sponsorship total for next year’s London Marathon has now reached 2% – just another £1,955 to go, but the money will flood in now that the latest Chatterbox, with me grinning on the cover, is in the shops. I can dream.
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