Catastrophic Catastrophe

Being away from the house for just over a week rendered more bad news regarding my cats.  On my return I'd lost Dumbo and her 3 kittens and Sambo.  Losing Sambo told me that there was something sinister going on because she had a tiny, very young kitten that she wouldn't have abandoned.  There's no clue where they are going and I'm not the only one losing cats as there was a lost-cat poster at the security gate left by a distraught owner.

Sambo's kitten, Muffy (named by a neighbour), is so young that without her mother she was doomed to die. By the time I arrived back from my trip, with her mother nowhere in sight, she was a bag of bones and absolutely teeming with fleas.  So I whizzed off to the shop to buy some flea powder and kitten food.  To be honest, she wasn't ready to eat solid food and should still have been suckling from her mother, but that's a role I couldn't fulfil. However, she readily and greedily took to the semi-solid kitten food I fed her, usually jumping in with both front paws, growling as she lapped it up. I had to keep the remaining cats away to stop them from stealing her food and she seemed to make good progress and lost the fleas.  

My foot, Muffy the Kitten & one of the ginger twins

Then I had to go to Manila for the weekend and I asked my neighbour to feed her whilst I was away, but after the first night she went missing and hasn't been seen since.  I was a bit a blow, caring for her and seeing her make good progress, only for her to disappear.

I'm now left with only 4 cats (Mambo, Medusa and the Ginger Twins) out of the original total of 12.  On one hand I want to know what's happened to them, but on the other hand I think I'd rather not know.

Ginger twin (Medusa and the other twin in the background)

I'm about to move to another house and I'm faced with the dilemma of what to do about the remaining four cats. They are feral and the problems associated with taking them with me and getting to adjust to new surroundings are probably too great but I feel guilty and concerned, in equal measures, about leaving them behind.

Half Century

Fifty years is a long time and it's odd that we should celebrate that milestone of our existence, especially as we hurtle towards the one of the few absolute certainties that exist: our demise.  I guess that from a point of view, the fact that we've made it so far and been fortunate enough to have had a happy and fulfilling life then there are grounds for celebrating, but for me I wasn't particularly bothered about partying the night away just because I'd reached fifty. However, on the other hand I wasn't dismayed and depressed that I had become so old, it's just a fact of life and looking forward to making the most of the coming, and remaining years, is what's important.

So there was no big bash but I did take a weeks holiday and went to Malaysia to meet my sister, Carol.  We met up in KL, which is a wonderful city, and generally hob-nobbed it over a long weekend, eating, drinking and most importantly, laughing our time away.

KLCC

Also, my mate Tall Kev travelled up from Singapore, desperately ill, but soldiered on.  He couldn't make it out the first night up, and had to have an early night, but the next day when he was feeling better we (Kev, me and Carol) made up for it by having a champagne brunch in the Mandarin Oriental and an extended session drinking more champagne ("That's your third bottle!" the waitress, somewhat agog, said in the Sky Bar at the Traders Hotel), beer, cocktails and spirits in the afternoon and into the evening.

Beer after the champagne - surely the wrong order?

From KL we went to the island of Penang and lived it up staying in the gloriously glamorous old colonial hotel, The Eastern and Oriental. The sea around Penang isn't particularly inviting when it comes to swimming and diving (that's what Langkawi or the islands off the east coast are for) but the E&O makes up for it by have a wonderful terrace pool.  Our time was spent lounging here or going out into George Town to admire the lovely old architecture of the city and to indulge in brilliant Malaysian/Asian cuisine, which Penang in particular seems to excel at.  I think I can safely say, each and every meal we had was exceptional.

Poolside at the E&O

A Cure for Chinese Farmer Giles

The penultimate day of the holiday for my sister ended with trip to Singapore and a tour of the bars and hawker centres around China Town.  I remained a bit longer in order to make a visit to our head office but the theme of good food and drinking continued with a champagne Sunday brunch at the Fairmont Hotel with my good friend Tall Kev and his family.  The night before I left Singapore it was a 10pint Guinness session with a work colleague before heading back to Subic Bay.

Ready for Another Night Out

Now I need to dry out and slim back down!