Animal House

One thing that i've missed a lot, pretty much since leaving home for the first time, is not having an animal around the place. I'm very much a cat person (although i like dogs as well) and since i was about 5 years old, the family have always had at least one cat. I'm also unable to get a pet here - as my tenancy forbids it (although my neighbor with the same landlord does have a dog so i may double check that). Anyway, that didn't matter this week as i had agreed to look after a colleague's animals whilst she was out of town for the week - plus with the added bonus of her lending me her car (she lives on James Island, a short drive from downtown Charleston) so allowing me the chance to get a bit of practice at driving on the right.

So, having dropped Kelly off at the airport on Saturday, i've been getting used to having animals about - five cats and a dog. The cats (Tubbs, Gracie, Retreat, Elliot and Janeway) are all quite varied personalites which make it interesting - and a couple of them like to bother me during the night (Retreat nearly gave me a heart attack by jumping on to the bed right in front of my face last night). The dog, Wahine (spelling?) is generally well-behaved and lets me happily boss her about - although she gives me those 'puppy-dog' eyes quite a lot if i do. Suffice to say, at the end of the week, i think i'll be happy to get back to my animal-less existence.