How to Bathe a Cat

I came home from work on Saturday and I was absolutely freezing. Not sure why, but I find that once I catch a chill, it's very hard to get rid of it. Gulping down two mugs of Earl Grey did nothing to warm me up and I could've given a limb or two in exchange for half an hour in a proper, Finnish sauna. Opting for the next best thing, I drew myself a very hot bath. The kind where you get out of it lobster red and glowing. After adding enough Radox to knock out a hippo, I slipped in.

Submerged in the bubbly tub, I started to thaw out. I was quite relaxed as it was, but had prepared to get even more relaxed by bringing in a glass of wine and some quality reading material (Donald Duck). I knew I had left the bathroom door ajar, because after about 10 minutes of blissful bopping about a little furry face appeared beside my head. Our cat Lily had decided to come and see what was taking me so long.

Two little paws on the edge of the tub she reached in to sniff the bubbles. She looked at them and then at me, perplexed. She's more used to sitting in the empty tub, staring at the tap, waiting for me to turn it on so she can drink from it while I brush my teeth in the mornings. After another brief glance, Lily sauntered out of the bathroom.

About fifteen minutes later she was back. Again, staring at me, trying to figure out what it was that I was doing. And, more importantly, why wasn't she included in this activity. She jumped on the side of the bath and went sniffing the bubbles again. By now, she had become to ta conclusion that the tub was, in fact a new bed, and the bubbles had to be my new duvet. She decided to jump in.

Needless to say, the realisation that she had in fact jumped into a bathtub full of water, resulted in the cat shooting out of the bath and the bathroom faster than anything on four legs I've seen before. I swiftly followed, seeing as a dripping wet cat roaming around in a house full of gadgets isn't an appealing idea. I followed thw wet paw prints into the kitchen and onwards to the living room, where there was a cat-shaped puddle in the middle of the carpet. She had continued onto out bed, which had a puddle in the middle of it now, before proceeding to nurse her bruised kitty ego under the bed.

Sulky cat

She looked well and truly pathetic, trying to lick herself dry. In one quick manoeuvre I had the car wrapped in a towel and firmly in place between my knees. Towel-drying a cat is harder than you'd think, so I had to bring out the hair dryer. After a while Lily seemed to be almost enjoying the experience. In the middle of it all I burst out laughing at the thought of someone seeing me sat in the middle of our bedroom floor, the drenched cat wedged between my knees, giving her a blow dry. You couldn't make it up.

Mr. S seemed to think Lily was extremely well styled and felt softer after the ordeal. The week didn't necessarily improve for poor Lily, as she too great exception to being de-wormed. At least I didn't have to shove tablets down the cats' throats as I opted for the de-wormer that you squirt onto the nape of their necks. Tom is always an easy patient, just purring away to himself when I treat him. Lily on the other hand, usually tries to make a break for it which is why she gets wrapped into a towel before the procedure. The things I do for them. Madness.

Bee Hive

Oh how I've pretended to be busy. Well, not entirely pretending, I must say. All those loose ends I was talking about a few posts ago; the car service etc. are slowly being taken care of. Mainly because I want to be able to go on my holidays in 11 days from today (can you tell I'm looking forward to it? can you?) and not have to worry about any of that.

I talked to my parents today for the first time in a month, in other words first time since they went to Thailand. Lucky sods. They spent a month in the heat and sun and apparently towards the end of their holiday my mother was completely blending in with the native dwellers of Khao Lak. My mother is tiny, anyway, and she tans ridiculously well for a Finnish person. Can't wait to see them!

Work has been the usual mixture of highs and lows and the inbetweens. Lots of planning for this season, some of the ideas thrown around are very exciting, some of them I wish I had the power to bin straight away. I had to suppress my fit of giggles with a customer last weekend. He asked me how to use the self-service coffee machine. I told him to put his cup under the nozzle and then choose the coffee he wanted. The machine in question is one with 6 push buttons and nothing else, each button very clearly labeled "black coffee", "cappuccino", "latte" etc. The man thanked me, put his cup under the nozzle, leaned very close to the machine and very clearly said "black coffee" into the nozzle and then stood back to wait for the machine to do his bidding. I dove down pretending to pick up a pen I had "dropped" and bit my lip trying not to laugh. Seriously, you can't make these things up.

At some stage, at work, we were talking about putting all these experiences into a book. I wonder what happened to that idea? I alone could easily fill a chapter or two and I'm there only 7 years this year. Like the time the kitchen got so hot in the middle of the summer the chefs at the end of their shift stripped down to their boxer shorts and walked out into the restaurant much to the amusement of our customers...