After The Rain Comes The Sun

No, not the weather, that's rather the other way around and today we got rain after many dry days - it was rather nice to hear it drumming on the roof.

It's lovely when things look up after a trying time and I've had a wonderful few days. First, a customer was so happy they bought me a lovely present to thank me for everything and that was such a nice feeling. A little later Kim and I were invited to a luncheon party with one of the village worthies and someone else called round and was just so kind it left me grinning from ear to ear. My dear friend A also came round for tea and talk the other evening and that was such a delight; she's funny, sensible and compassionate, a truly marvellous combination to find in anyone and especially someone you can call friend.

I have had so many sweet emails about Tommy, about Whitewicca and a host of other thoughtful things, that I decided to put the site back up again. I was missing the lovely people and figured that, even thought the very first thing that happened was a heap of spammers registering, it was worth the trouble.

Over the past days, Kim and I have felt that the house is uncannily quiet; you would never believe how much one moth-eaten old cat could fill a place with his presence. Neither of us like this silence and the absence of animals, so we took ourselves off to the RSPCA centre at West Hatch to have a mooch around. No, that's not true! We put the cat carrier in the back of the car and set out very purposefully. Oh my! There were tiny kittens, middle-sized kittens, big kittens, older cats, one old boy who looked like he had been a brawler all his life and a pair of black and white boy cats with lovely faces. The lovely lady at the RSPCA, Anna, told us that they had been taken to the shelter when their owner was made redundant and had to move from their house to a place where they couldn't have cats. These poor boys had been in a cage since March and were always passed over. Goodness knows why, as they were pretty, affectionate and loveable in every way.

Anna took is to the 'familiarisation room', a large garden shed decked out to look like a sitting room, so that people and cats could interact and see how they got along in something more comfortable than a cage. The boys are called Boots and Smokey and we were told that Smokey was very timid, Boots less so. Within minutes Smokey was on my lap and Boots in Kim's arms - timid, huh? Not when the chance of a stroke and some love was on offer! Boots is a dribbler and as soon as you start to stroke or fuss him, he's drooling like Homer Simpson dreaming of donuts; Smokey is smaller, more lithe and very sweet.

Yes, you guessed it, we fell under the spell of these furry brothers and after filling out the paperwork, we now await a home visit from the RSPCA inspector to approve us and our home before we can call the boys our cats. Help us out here Freya, please. I know our house is a good, safe place for cats and we already have a letter from our vet to say we are responsible and caring animal owners, so I can't help getting my hopes up. If all goes to plan, we could have two furry house-mates living with us by next weekend. Oh, please let it be so!