Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in …………..Surrey, Croydon, Sutton, North London, Docklands (East London), Essex.

Week 48 (or Week 11 of the new adventure), Saturday 16^th May until Friday 22^nd May 2015.

 What a beautiful old man.

Fifteen years ago on 18 May I met a kitten who would change my life.  That kitten grow up to be Spike, we lived together for 14 years in a first floor flat.  There was a garden but it was just impractical for him to get there and back past main doors and up and down communal stairs safely (in my opinion).  We were happy together, lots of cuddles he really was my companion over the years.  There were times when I felt low and would come home to an empty flat as always Spike would be waiting for me.  We sat for hours watching films and TV, or lay in bed together hiding from the world.  Without that cat I very possibly wouldn’t be here today.

 All of this is his.

When I decided to pack up my life and go to Mozziebeak the biggest problem I faced was what was going to happen to Spike.  He was just over 14 with a heart murmur; he takes medication (a dab of Marmite always helped the medicine go down).  I contacted charities but no one wanted him.  I was getting a little desperate.  Then fate took over, I was in the post room at the place I worked talking to Nigel about going abroad and mentioned my problem.  He said with a wink “Don’t mention Spike to Jane his wife”.  The funny thing was that Jane worked in the team behind me so she knew of Spike.  It was the next morning when Jane came up to me and said “was there something that you weren’t supposed to tell me”.  This was the start of a life change for Spike.  Jane and Nigel came to meet him a couple of times, they thought long and hard about how he would change their life.  Spike went to live with them, he had a new home and a garden after 14years he became an outdoor cat.

 This weeks, MOZ eating and drinking picture (at Kenwood House).

While I was away I got regular e-mails and pictures of Spike and his new life, I consider this his retirement.  He loves the garden and chases other cats out of it, it’s his territory now.  Part of me looks back and feels bad about his life, should I have found a way for him to access the garden (My friend Moira did get him a lead and I did take him in the garden a couple of times on it, he wasn’t impressed).  Sometimes when I got home from work he would be looking out of the window down at me.  I used to leave the radio on for him as I felt that indie music or a talk radio was a little company.  The flat was his life; he didn’t really have any experience of the outside world.

  The Angel, comedy god Graham Chapman used to visit there often.

While I was away in Mozziebeak I became attached to a couple of cats. A cute 2 day old kitten that we called Swazye who was looked after by members of the dive shop for 3 weeks.  We really loved that kitten, helping to feed, poop and generally be mum.  I was so upset when it was killed by a couple of dogs.  Then there was a cat that we called Alice Cooper (he had a black patch on his mouth that made him like Alice Cooper the rocker).  This cat had a home but it seemed to like being with us, over a period of a couple of months it spent more and more time at the dive shop, that might have had something to do with the cat food I would feed it for breakfast.  Alice was a loving and appreciative kitty.  That all changed when he was attacked by a sick dog. He was never the same and soon stopped being sociable.  The last time I saw him he was at home and didn’t want any human contact; this was a complete turn-a-round to how he used to be.  I was so sad to see him like this, but at least he was alive and at home.  I hope that when I return to Mozziebeak I will bump in to Alice along one of the dirt roads of “down town” Tofo.

  I remember the great storm in October 1987, so does Kenwood House.

Spike lives a totally different life to Alice, Spike is a happy cat and it makes me so happy to see him running around his garden and laying about on the sofas in the living room, while Jane and Nigel looking on like proud parents.  It was great to be with him on his birthday this week.  I was Spike human mum for 14 years, he is still part of my life I’m just part of his extended family now, Jane and Nigel are his parents these days.

 Saw a stowaway at London bridge train station.

End of another week.  Mooched about London’s Docklands saw sunbathing Pigeons and one with one leg (love a Pigeon).  Walked passed a pub in Highgate village with a plaque stating that Graham Chapman from Monty Python used to drink there.  Revisited Hampstead Heath and Kenwood House with MOZ.  Saw a man who looked like Peter Capaldi (the Doctor) come out of a building at work which made me stop and stare.  Saw large storm clouds over Croydon while at work.  Passed a nasty cycle accident, the man overtook me on a hill a few minutes earlier.

The Mid-Life Crisis cont…..

This week I have been watching: “Graham Norton” (Season 17, eps 7), “Have I Got news For You” (Season 49, eps 7), “Thunderbirds are Go” (Season 1, eps 7), “Atlantis” (Season 2, eps12), “Shark” (eps 3), “Murder in Successville” (Season 1, eps 3. Dead, Rich and Famous), “Alan Partridge, Papa Alpha”, “The Game” (eps 3 & 4), “Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (eps 1), “Game of Thrones” (Season 5, eps 1), “Tatau” (season 1, eps 7 & 8)

This week I have mainly been listening to, “Pet Shop Boys”, “Morrissey”, “Alanis Morrissette”.

Reading on Kindle……“A Game of Thrones, A Song of Ice and Fire” book 2 “ A Clash of Kings” by George R.R. Martin.