It was nearly fourteen years ago that I flew to Queensland to meet my future in-laws. Hello, my name's Kirsty and I'm going to marry your son in about ten weeks - yes, lovely to meet you too!
G's parents took it all in their stride. When it comes to conversation, they are the King and Queen of diplomacy and tact. I have watched on in awe at G's family Christmas, where voices are rarely raised, issues are discussed and everyone is asked for their thoughts. There is a degree of order and calm. Pretty well the opposite of a meal with my own family.
G and his father are very much alike. Both in personality and looks. Same hair, same shoulders, same legs, same walk, same weirdly long arms. They employ the same mannerism when they speak. I was quite fascinated with G's Dad when we first met, as it was almost like looking through a window into my future, I was talking to a sixty year old G.
And then the doorbell rang and I realized that G's Dad was obviously senile.
"That'll be the cat" he said upon hearing the doorbell.
"I'm sorry?" I'd obviously misheard.
"The doorbell, that'll be the cat"
The rest of family acknowledged the arrival of the cat and continued on. It wasn't just him, they were all obviously crazy.
And off he went to open the door.
I had seen the doorbell, I knew it was an apparatus that had to be pushed. I knew it was at human height. I knew there was no way a cat could push that button.
And then the cat walked in.
The cat was one of those big fat don't mess with me British Blues. As it wandered by I'm sure I heard it say "what are you looking at new girl".
No-one said a word.
"That's amazing!" I was astounded by the cats obvious brilliance of being able to not only jump high enough, but to then push the button to let everyone know it was ready to come in.
I was now the crazy one.
Someone politely explained that the neighbours enjoyed a longstanding relationship with the cat and "borrowed" it each day. Every night, at dinner time they would ring the doorbell and drop the cat home.
Moving right along.
The beagle would love to have a relationship with our neighbours, mostly because she would like to eat their cats. It is for this reason that she is always kept on a leash when she's walked. The beagle spends a lot of her day working on an escape plan. She is walked three times a day and treats these walks as reconnaissance trips, gathering information and making mental notes.
Her escapes are usually made in the evenings, and are quickly put to an end when the guards at the gate of the compound ring us and let us know they have her.
Last night as G and I were heading to bed, the phone rang. I glanced at the clock, it was way too late for a social call.
"That'll be the dog" said G.
Family traits? Shared animals? Do you have any?
I love it! Growing up we had two escape artists as well. The Dachshund would dig under the fence and then encourage the Boxer to jump over. They had many an adventure because after the first time, it was almost impossible to keep them in. My stepfather finally dug up all along the fence line and laid chicken wire underground. With the short guy contained, the big one lost his motivation to jump.
ReplyDeleteI am sure they were still plotting though.
Enjoyed this post. The part below made me laugh.
ReplyDelete'The beagle would love to have a relationship with our neighbours, mostly because she would like to eat their cats...The beagle spends a lot of her day working on an escape plan. She is walked three times a day and treats these walks as reconnaissance trips, gathering information and making mental notes.'
Great blog as always - but that photo made my day! Just brilliant.
ReplyDeleteDawn
Laughing. My. Head. Off.
ReplyDeleteThat is all.
Fabulous post :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome
ReplyDeleteI'm giggling reading this. I have a cat who as much as he appears to like living here makes it his mission to try and escape during the night -usually around 2.30 am. He is able to open a locked cat flap by maneuvering the sliding locking mechanism back! I now have to barricade a footstool in front of the cat flap, place a heavy piece of slate on top of the footstool and pray for sleep.
ReplyDeleteHe often can't be bothered with the back door cat flap and in the day will come to the front door and "knock" (that is scrape and bash his body against it) until it's opened for him! So we do say "that will be the cat" in this house....and it actually is!
x
Love dog & cat stories as I refuse to grow up, ever. We don't have escape artists but we do have strong characters that make their insistent wishes known. Much to our inconvenience we're renting and can't have a catflap. If Miss Maxi wants in at 3am- she gets it. She bangs on the tinny security door like the drug squad making a bust, threatening to wake the neighbourhood.
ReplyDeleteI quite like an ordered household! I think I would like your in laws very much.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many great pet stories out there...
Got any more ????? xo
It sounded like a Meet the Fockers movie....Family traits - My 3y/o keeps on at me about my seatbelt before I drive. The other day I said, "Look Eve, Mummy put her seatbelt on first." Her reply "Great, now do it again and I'll be impressed". I rang my father straight away - he laughed and then said, yes, she got that from me!! (I have to admit via me)
ReplyDeleteLove the pet stories - we have a menagerie of 2 cats, 2 dogs and fish and they all do their best to keep us entertained!
ReplyDeletePissing. Myself. Laughing!
ReplyDeleteLove. It!
Great story, Kirsty! Love animals with character! We have two such animals here as well - one very regal tabby cat (Princess) and an over-eager English Staffy (Spencer). Spence would like nothing better than to play (read: lick cat all over before chasing!) and Princess stands still to give the impression that she'll let him, only to change her mind two seconds later and bop him one on the nose!
ReplyDeleteDespite this, I think underneath it all they do like each other. They are always together and sometimes even sleep beside each other.
A great story! LOVE the cat picture too. When our kids were growing up they had a dog. But he spent most of the time at the retired neighbour's place. So at 10 o'clock every night, hubby and I would go next door, ring the door bell and ask if we could take our dof for a walk. He spent the night with us but raced next door when we all left for school and work.
ReplyDeleteBTW my British in-laws are very diplomatic and reserved as well. Not sure what they thought of the brash Canadian girl their son married but we seem to get along very well.
Just caught reading all your posts this month :) A delight, as always. Just voted for you :)
ReplyDeleteWe used to share a cat back in 1988 when there were three of us gals going to uni. Sunny the cat lived next door to a divorcee who worked crazy hours.
ReplyDeleteHe'd grip determinedly (what other way is there) onto the flyscreen of our sliding door as it opened and closed, then take his chance to dash inside, run up the stairs and select whichever bed took his fancy.
We'd let him stay there as we studied/drank coffee/goofed off and he'd be let out again when we heard the neighbour pull in late at night. Free cat company for us, fun for him and the lady next door bought his food!