Day 312. Lady Perdita of Huntingdon.

Over a decade ago we visited a Cambridgeshire farm to buy a cat. The only one left was the runt of the litter, smelly and mucky and living in a pig sty. I'd never owned a cat, we're dog people, but work lives meant if we wanted to have a substitute child, I mean pet, then a cat was the better option. In truth I was actually allergic to cats and the condition of getting one was that it must be short haired. But how could we leave her? She's timid and slightly feral. And we love her. On the mend after her corneal ulcer she's ruling the roost once more and that's fine with me. She's my other baby. With less attitude (but only just).

* a friend nicknamed her Lady Perdita of Huntingdon when we lived there as she's incredibly haughty.

Day 151. Cat in a bag.

Packing Bea's mini case for the journey up to Whitley Bay and came back upstairs to find the cat sleeping happily on it. Needless to say we made sure she wasn't hiding in any of the overnight bags before we left.

Day 126. Lady Perdita of Huntingdon.

Too busy today and completely forgot to take a photo so just before bed here is our cat.

Day 65. Do you want to see some puppies?

My friend's been using this line for a week now. Thankfully her terrier had four puppies last week so it's genuine. Here's Bea, her best friend Suki and little brother Barns each holding a tiny bundle of fur. No surprise that "Can we have one?" was the first thing Bea said as they're absolutely gorgeous. The answer was a resounding 'no'.

Welcome to the world, from left to right, Quentin, Sebastian, Lavinia and Tarquin (out of shot). Do you think the new owners will want to change those names? It's unlikely we would, after all we called our cat Perdita ... Lavinia and Perdita, that has quite a nice ring to it. Did I say no?