Miscellany and detritus, from the writer of Is This Mutton?com

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Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Cats and Men


Cats and men have a mutually suspicious relationship. It's said that men are very wary of single women in their 30s and beyond who live on their own with a cat. I think the same would be true of single men living with a cat. Or single men living with their mum.

I've always had a cat. Currently it's Molly. We've had Molly for a year. We don't know too much about her history. She turned up at Julie and Paula's, in Swindon, bedraggled and thin. They took her to a vet and it turned out she was pregnant. They wanted to keep her but she was terrorising their elderly cats, so after the kittens had gone, I drove Molly from Swindon to her new home in Chingford.

Initially she was quite wild and wary; now she's calmed down, likes being kissed and likes listening to football commentaries. When John stopped listening to the Spurs match on Sunday, she stood up, looked at him indignantly, chirruped crossly and strode upstairs.

Molly was a bully in her Swindon days, but in Chingford she's terrorised by all the other cats. I am forever chasing Pedro out of the lean-to when I hear the soft ping of the cat flap. Then there's an ugly black and white bruiser who lurks under my car, or in the back garden, waiting for Molly. She never stays in the back garden now: her territory seems to be across the road, which is worrying as the road is used by a rat run and is quite busy.

Molly and John are wary of each other. When he sometimes tries to pick her up or stroke her, she bites or scratches. But occasionally she jumps up on his lap, and his face lights up.

In my experience, cats seem to prefer women. Men lurch around too much and their voices are loud. And they always brush cats off beds.
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4 comments

Anonymous said...

Gail - you'll be glad to know I complete on my new house on Nov 30th - so will no longer be single and living with my mother!

It's been a long six months!

MB

elliot said...

HELLO Gail... I am happy I have no cat...they smell very bad...!!!

B.T.Bear (esq.) said...

Men's feet are too big and their voices too low- cats think they are always growling at them. I found a small volume at a book fair recently, "Why can't men be more like cats?". Ha! LEft it around for my fiance to read.

Helena (Bob's mum)

Anonymous said...

Hello Gail.

Well it's certainly true reading your blog about Molly - cats know where it's at :-) She'd sussed you out I reckon.

Women make far more fuss of cats than men basically because, on the whole, we are big softies and give in too easily to their demands. Saying that the only time I ever saw my Dad cry was when our old 17 year old cat, Giles died...a cat can melt many a tough guy's image and one day they'll be one to bring elliot round to liking them, I feel sure of that.

And compared to dogs they are far more intelligent in my opinion. They seem to do their own thing and yet have you in the palm of your hand, if you know what I mean?

Fran :-)

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