27/12/2024
A year has passed, and a New Year awaits.
By Shona of Crusader Travel.
This last year has been one of many trials and also quite a few tribulations. The saddest experience for me, this year, was losing our Cat Stevie, who one day many years ago followed us home. He was a stray cat, and we had let him stay in the office and one night when walking home we turned around and he was right behind us. That was about 15 years ago, and we never really worked out his age, but we think he was well over 17 when he died.
He had been my mumโs constant companion, as she had been very unwell for many years and had started staying at home a lot these few last years, since Covid really and Stevie sat by her side every day and night, taking a few breaks to eat etc but that was it really. They say Cats can sense when their humans are unwell or stressed and they often will sit beside you and cuddle you at such times. My lovely mum, died in April 2023 and I think Stevie just couldnโt understand what had happened to his companion. He would at first stay behind when we came home, hoping and thinking I think, that she would be coming behind us, he would often sit on the doorstep waiting for her. He would go looking through the house, at first, thinking she must be somewhere. They say that pets quite often exhibit this kind of behaviour as they just donโt understand, quite reasonably why someone in the family isnโt coming home again ๐
Stevie, last September 2023 started becoming unwell and we took him to the vets, and they said quite a few teeth needed to be removed. That did seem to work, and he seemed quite well, but about a year later, he again seemed a bit under the weather and we took him quite a few times to the vets but in fact each visit actually seemed to make him worse. Within a month he really had gone from being quite an active cat, jumping up on chairs and tables and beds to being really disabled, it was incredibly sad to see him like that and me and my dad would take it in turns to sit at home with him, and try and feed him and make him as comfortable as we could but on Sunday the 1st of December in the early hours of the morning his body gave up and he died in my arms.
On Sunday the 15th of December, my dad and me travelled by bus and train and went to Battersea Cat home to see if we could get a rescue cat. We had seen Pabloโs details on their Cat Gallery and knew quite a bit about his character before we met him. Nothing can replace our lovely Stevie, but the house felt very empty, and we thought we could give a rescue cat a loving home. So, we met Pablo and brought him home with us, he is very sweet, his date of Birth is the 25th of March 2024, so he is 10 months old now. He has to stay in a month, so that he will not become disorientated and get lost when we let him explore outside, but he is getting quite bored and doesnโt seem too interested in the toys we try (he seems to have quite a limited attention span ๐ฅฐ ๐ค) and tempt him with, but he does love sitting by the window watching the birds!
So, this Christmas my dad and me, stayed home and had a quiet but lovely and peaceful Christmas with Pablo. We did a little gardening and cycled round the park. I couldnโt think what to cook as I try and make our meals as nutritious and healthy as possible & although I am a veggie, my dad isnโt, but even a Turkey leg would have been stupidly big, but just a day or two before Christmas day we enjoyed watching Jamie Oliver on TV together, making a Brussel Sprout and Chestnut pie. It looked great so I made that and also roast chicken for Bruce and roast aubergines and potatoes for the 2 of us. Lots of our kind client friends, colleagues and neighbours had sent us cards and presents, it was lovely to see all the cards and to open a few presents on Christmas Day. We felt loved and I think it gave me and my dad some much-needed solace after losing my lovely mum, Hedda and Stevie in these last 2 years. Some lovely clients had even given us homemade Christmas chutneys from their allotment and a little bottle of lovely beer which we had with our lunch.
I donโt know what the new Year will bring, but I hope we will stay busy as our office, our clients and our work are a great solace to us and last year was good, business wise & interesting. We have worked hard and made as many savings as we could. We managed to get through Covid and the years of relentless refunds and have pretty much paid off the government loan now and our bank balance is healthy. We have made lots of changes in our personal lives as well, as the saying goes, what doesnโt kill you, makes you stronger...
We wish all our lovely client friends, a happy, magical and peaceful 2025.
