4.00 am. Woke up.
5.15. Got up, let 6 cats out, let 2 cats in, fed same, breakfast, watch News 24.
7.30. Swimming at nearby Raich Carter Sports Centre. Because I'm either under 16 or over 60, I'm entitled to free swimming, which I do as often as possible, swim freely and slowly, 20 lengths in 36 minutes, but it's the exercise that matters.
8.20. Post Office to post three parcels. I sell stuff on Amazon Marketplace -basically the type of stuff I write about here but that, for whatever reasons, I don't want to keep.
8.30 Asda superstore to buy cat food for rescued cats.
10.00. Set off in Animal Krackers' van, as passenger, to pick up 6 cats from Carol, the lady who looks after our rescued cats, and where I drop off most of the food. she's over-full at the moment and another cat rescue (which doubles as a professional cattery) has offered to take them. The cattery is in Burnhope, a small village in County Durham, a 40 minute drive away and up in the lush, partly wooded hills.
10.40. We (that is me, Ian and, just to be confusing, Ian the driver. In our shop is another Ian.) arrive at Burnhope, a pleasant if fairly nondescript. The view that greets us as we arrive is shown in the photograph above. It's obviously well-run and the standard of the cat housing is very high and will make a nice, albeit hopefully, temporary accomodation. It's far more spacious than Carol's and there at most only 2 cats to a room (they are too big to be called cages, though that's what they are).
Tracy, the lady who runs it pretty much single-handedly, is a very pleasant woman of forty-something and we immediately bond over our mutual love of cats -we speak the same language. I spend some time looking round, taking photographs and talking to Tracy about the problems (mostly financial) of rescuing, getting veterinary treatment, and rehoming cats.
12.30 pm. Arrive home.
I don't do afternoons.
4.30. Call at the Animal Krackers shop which is only about 250 yards from our house, to pick up the car and keys. I find a dog which they've had handed to them. A stray, it had been hit by a car, and then taken by us (Susan and Andrea) to the vets for treatment. It's an old dog and it can't walk very well. The vet has given it pain killers but can't do anything more for it. One thing most of us in the charity agree on is never to let an animal suffer and sometimes this means having to do the worst thing of all. However, until we've had this dog for a week we can't, by law, make that decision just in case the owner turns up. Frankly we doubt if it will last that long.
4.50. Pick up a cat from Carol's to take to the vet's for a checkup. The young female tortoiseshell is a stray that was found under the bonnet (U.S. 'hood') of a car with burns to its feet. We also had it neutered and a rupture fixed. The vet says it's healing well but to keep an eye on it and bring it back if there's any deterioration.
6.15. Home for tea with Susan -Sunday's leftovers, a great British tradition.
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