Thread 15 - TalkLair: “I Can't Lie To You About Your Chances, But... You Have My Sympathies.”

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous thread 14).

Autumn seems to have gone straight into winter. It's cold, wet and windy. In the TalkLair, the hearth is glowing, the walls covered in dubious artwork, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them). The denizens of the lair are a welcoming bunch though, always eager for general chit-chat on all manner of topics.

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

It’s a balmy 5° here. It keeps lurching from 13° to 5° and I wish it would bloody make its mind up so I know what to wear. I made the mistake of going out in my coat the other day and had to have a shower when I got back because I’d overheated so much. I’d love to move somewhere that was cold all year round.

My friend had a young lad who’d just passed his test crash into her wall last night, possibly a combination of ice and going too fast. The car was totally wrecked but he was ok apparently.

I’d like to watch Threads. Is it only available on iplayer?

Not sure, but think I saw it on youtube.

Ooh, just found it on there. I might sign up for a youtube premium free trial specially.

This video made me think of @Kucinghitam’s MochiMochiMochi

Oh yes! That's great!

Oh what a sweet story!

Thanksgiving today here and there were only three of us (me, DH and his cousin, a single guy the same age who is almost like a brother to him) so we had smoked salmon for starters followed by a large roast chicken instead of a turkey, plus roast potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, sprouts and chestnuts, buttered carrots and sausagemeat stuffing with chestnuts and prunes in it, and a pumpkin pie and homemade dulce de leche ice cream. For some reason neither of us were hungry for an evening meal.

@VictorianBigot Oh that's so sweet! And so uncannily like MochiMochiMochi, even the sitting outside in horrible weather for hours rather than going back to her official home... (although she shouts wayyyy louder).

@Britinme That sounds like an amazing feast!

Amazing story with that cat, so similar to Mochi. Five years, though, that's a determined cat!

In other Cat News, I got a little ‘blep’ from Kasper yesterday

Lovely, lovely Kasper. This morning I was woken by a banging and scraping on my (first-floor) bedroom window. Enough to make me jump out of bed and draw back the curtains. Turns out it's the hi-tech window-cleaner, cos a guy came to the door a while back and said, do you want your windows doing, and I said OK. But that has happened before and they never bothered pitching up. So perhaps now, after living here seven years now {!}, I have a window cleaner. So I said, can you do the back as well, I'll open the gate, and he said, that's six quid extra. So a bargain, I think.

Window cleaning is a job that doesn't seem to exist around here. I've lived here 22 years now and never seen one.

Gorgeous Kasper.

And what a lovely, persistent cat. The one who wanted to move in here gave up after a mere 6 months.

Kasper is such a handsome boi!

I'm heading off shortly to Bristol to see my BFF and drop off Xmas presents, catch up with friends in the SW too.

Have fun, duc!

Cats are a funny lot. My BiL has a monstrous cat, he was also a neighbour's cat, but she used to go away all the time and leave him to starve. He just approached BiL and begged for food.

She's had another couple, which have vanished. Well, been rescued. She just chucks them out all night, no cat flap.

Poor cats! It's a puzzle why some people choose to have animals when they're so horrible to them. To me, you have a cat or dog so you can love them and give them lots of fuss.

We had a cat that ran away and went to live with a family over the road. I don't blame him as our household was not a calm place and wouldn't have been much fun for a cat. We used to see him sometimes but he never said anything.

MaBint got her first cat because the family next door got a dog and a baby. They didn't neglect the cat, but it objected to the additions and chose a calmer house.

Happy travels, Duc - hope the weather holds for you.

@duc748 enjoy!

When I was about 10 a beautiful fluffy white cat suddenly appeared from the rockery in the garden and started rubbing herself against my legs. Her fur was matted and dirty. She wasn't allowed in the house but we fed her, and I spent all my spare time outside with her on my lap. We put up posters but nobody claimed her, so after a couple of weeks or so my dad said I could keep her and arranged a trip to the vet. The vet said that as she had been a stray cat they wanted to do a range of tests, so we were told to leave her with them and we could collect her later on. In the afternoon they rang to say that she had tested positive for FeLV and had put her to sleep. To say I was devastated is an understatement.

I'm still angry about it all these years later. She could have lived several more years being pampered as a housecat. When my mum had the rockery dismantled we found a cat-sized hole where we think she'd been sheltering

I think I was born to love cats.

That's so sad @VictorianBigot!

I'm a dog person myself and wouldn't have a cat, partly because of the birds we feed, but I love petting them and hearing them purr.

i like other people’s dogs but have no desire to own one. I always think living with a dog is like living with a toddler but living with a cat is like living with a teenager.

Dogs are kind of like toddlers, I hadn't thought of that before. No boundaries and they're honest and shameless, which is what I love about them.

I also like other people's dogs - well, some of them. MrG is an absolute dog magnet and even the most timid dogs approach him for a bit of a fuss. This is odd as (like me) he's a cat person.

@Britinme I always think living with a dog is like living with a toddler but living with a cat is like living with a teenager.

Arf! Or do I mean miaow?

I swear ours roll their eyes at me sometimes before stalking off in a huff.

I swear ours roll their eyes at me sometimes before stalking off in a huff.

Kasper makes a very audible huff when he doesn't get what he wants. If I can't play with him because I'm working or in the middle of cooking dinner, he huffs and trudges to the lounge to flop on the floor and sulk.