Officially, today is the first day of winter in the UK. The start of the darkest period of the year when the chances are that most of us will not see much daylight during the week.  After a week of plunging temperatures and icy car windscreens it certainly feels like it.  

But the day-time hours can be fantastic. A cold night can often lead to an early morning clear blue sky, and therefore the sight of the sun for a few hours. If the rain will just stay away for a few weeks, winter can be my favourite season given the chance.

The cold mornings certainly have an effect on our hairy monsters. They are now almost at the point of hibernation. One day, they are running around trying to get out of every door and window and then, almost as if someone has given them something to calm them down, they wander the house looking for the warmest place to lie down and spend hours asleep.

Radiators were seemingly invented for cats.

Charlie will regularly hop from one radiator to another to find the warmest spot. We also use radiators to dry our washing by draping the wettest items near or over them. This is fair game to the cats who have learned to pull the washing off the radiator and use it as a pre-heated bed. The duvet covers can often be converted into a tent, where the cats will climb inside and hunker down.

They also have some favourite places to lie on the floor. It is odd to see them sitting in the middle of the floor for no obvious reason. But the location is actually important, as the hot water pipe crosses the room under the floor and there is a modicum of extra warmth to be had by lying in the right place.

They also want to have a cuddle more often. Each evening, once we have settled down in front of the television, they will climb up onto my chest and cuddle into my neck as tightly as they can to extract the maximum amount of heat available. They did this as kittens when they only weighed a few pounds, but they have not grown out of it even though they are now much bigger and heavier. It can sometimes feel like a war of attrition, to try to keep breathing as both cats decide that they are more important and need to be highest on my chest and neck.

Even though the scrawny one in the household can appear thin and bony, the cats still value the small amounts of heat that emanate from her body and will sprawl all over her too.

With the weather freezing, and getting up in the dark, does not seem to deter Charlie from a quick scout of the immediate surrounds.

On Monday I was flying to Glasgow and arose at 4.15 am. As I staggered out of bed towards the cold kitchen, I was passed in the hallway by a cat carrying a trophy. “I am sure this particular creature has been in front of me before”, I thought, looking at a familiar long tailed field mouse.

He did his usual trick of presenting it to me, and then letting it run away.

I say presenting it to me, but in reality he now shows it to me for a brief moment, and then rushes into the study to play with it.

I only had a few minutes before I was supposed to leave to catch the plane, and the last thing I needed was to chase a mouse around the house. I thought of waking my better half to help me, but the image of a grouchy, naked, half-asleep partner cursing me alongside the cat, put me off.

“Right, I am going to catch this thing if it kills me”. I grabbed the tool of choice and amazingly managed to sweep up the poor creature into the bottom of the glass. It sat still, looking at me in stunned silence. I raced to the door before it decided to jump out, and let it go, seeing it disappear quickly into the undergrowth.

I walked back into the house and readied myself for the journey.

As I got to the point of climbing into my suit, I was alerted to a face watching me. The cat had gone out of the cat flap and traced the recent prize back to its nest, just long enough to capture the same poor creature and bring it back into the house.

He sat there with the mouse in his mouth daring me to take it off him.

Do I try to save it and be late, or do I let him have it?

The decision was soon made for me as he decided to exert the ultimate pressure and ate the mouse in front of me. Even in the coldest months, a cat will still show no mercy for an intruder.

Saturday morning

I awoke as usual with a cold nose.

The weather had taken a turn and the cold mornings now deterred me from rising too early.

But today felt special.

I was determined to escape from my prison and venture out to feel the frost under my paws and the wind in my fur. I’d slept well and snored loudly, and I was now ready for a new challenge.

After a quick recce, I decided that the lounge door was the most likely place and sat there in anticipation.

I could hear the humans discussing whether today would be the day. Initially, their indecisiveness was starting to irritate me, but finally they made a decision. “He can go out!”

The big fat human wandered over and opened the door by me, gesticulating that I should go out. I leaned out of the door and eyed the immediate vicinity. I leaned further to feel the wind temperature. I leaned back in and shuffled backwards.

“I think I will try another door to see if the weather is better from that one”.

I walked into the kitchen and sat by the back door.

The big fat human came into the kitchen and unlocked the back door. I thrust my head out of that one. “Nope it is still too cold for me”, it was just the same from this door and a bit parky for my liking.

The dilemma. I had waited for weeks to get the opportunity to go out, and now they were shepherding me out into the cold.

Finally, the door was opened by the scrawny one.

“Well I need to make a run for it”, I thought, and finally made my move. I didn’t know what to do first and did a crazy dash in one direction, stopped, did a bit of a dance and then set off in another direction. I was free again.

First stop was to pay a visit, and relieve myself without having to use that dreaded box of gravel. The box of gravel is the most demeaning part of being locked in my prison, and I don’t want to do that again if I can help it. It seems only yesterday that I was falling into the box and stumbling over my water.

I still can’t jump or walk for any lengthy amount of time, but I can sh*t with the best of them.

I made a tour of the garden and visited some of my local haunts. No sign of any intuders and the break away from the garden doesn’t seem to have changed it much. Maybe a few more leaves on the ground but otherwise the same old garden.

That day I continued to exploit my new found freedom and wander the garden regularly.

At night I tucked myself up under the chin of the big fat human and dreamed of chasing rabbits and catching birds.

Monday morning

I awoke late. The sun had come up and the cold had gone. A couple of days of wandering outside had made me tired. I planned the day in my mind, and went over the routine for searching for voles.

Just as I was about to set-off for the day, the scrawny human directed my into a small plastic box. “Oh no, I know where this is going”.

A short time later we had travelled to the place of the people with the blue uniforms and the rubber gloves.

I was thrust onto a table so the rubber glove people could look at me.

I listened intently.

“He is making a fine recovery. I think another two weeks in the cage and then maybe five weeks in the house and he will be good to go outside”.

I shuddered as the words echoed around in my head.

“Do I really need to go back in the metal box, (if that’s what they meant)?”

“No more sh*tting in the flower beds. Back to using the gravel box. Uhhh, even the thought destroys me!”

I waited for the response from the scrawny one. But it never came. No admission of my escapades. No mention of my new found freedom.

We travelled back to our home in silence.

I was soon ready to go outside and stretch my legs once again. The scrawny one let me go. “I will be careful”, I thought, “I don’t want to go through that again”.

To be continued …….

Well we lost the first ashes test and a new one is starting tomorrow.

As usual with this competition, we find lots of reasons why the first test loss was actually ok, and to be expected. It was all in the plan and we are going to come good in the second test and win from there.

In reality the signs are not good. We may not be faced by the same level of vitriol in Adelaide, but it is still Australia and we seem to be struggling as always.  Let’s hope we can pull it out of the bag and it can be a great series.

I have got quite hooked on a new musician this week. He came up through the route of “Britain’s Got Talent”, but his music is quite interesting.

See what you think!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzgFohAu1W4

Have a great weekend!