Where do I start with this post after so many years?  The year is now 2020, October to be precise.  So much has happened between my last post and this one.  We left our beloved cave house in 2009, and that was a year of significant change for all of our family.  I manage to fall off a mountain whilst rambling with my youngest daughter, and it turns out I broke my back. One by one the family moved back to the UK, first my daughter and her partner, then my brother, and then my husband.  Mother and I rented a small place back on the costa blanca whilst we waited for the final documents for the pets we were taking home with us.  Sadly we had to put to sleep three of our lovely pets, they would not have passed the medical requirements for entry into the UK due to age and infirmity.  On reflection it was their time, but it did not make it easier knowing that.

Mum and I were due to travel in September of 2009, back to the Uk.  Mum's health was becoming more of a concern as time passed, and was one of the reasons to return  The other was the economic recession that had not just blighted our lives and livelihoods but those also of our dear Spanish neighbours and friends.  It was with a very heavy heart we made the decision to return.

Mun sadly did not make it and passed very suddenly 05/07/2009 😥 

R.I.P Audrey May Elsey. This was the last photo I took of her, she died the next day.

I returned to the UK 20th July 2009, to reunite with my husband and family.  The pain did not end there.  I found after an X ray I had in fact broken my back, which has taken some while to mend..  I also found out I had breast cancer, and also my sister in law had bowel cancer.

Swift move on to 2020.  Sadly my sister in law did not make it, she died in 2010.  My darling brother Ade who lived with us in Spain passed in November 2019 when he lost his fight with pancreatic cancer, and then in the Spring of 2020 we also lost Austin my brother in law.

Not sure how we have made it through but we have, somewhat battered and most certainly bereft.

This post is a catch up but not all doom and gloom as the title tells you this is a tale of 3 kitties, just wanted to put a positive out there as Rona is doing her worst, we all need an uplift.

So........A Tale of Three Kitties

My husband and I became publicans on our return to the UK.  Our two kitties we brought back were Spanish strays we rescued, my daughter begged me to let them live with her in the farm cottage, I accepted as they were not used to roads or traffic.  One has since passed the other is alive and well.

Because we were publicans it was not conducive to pet ownership, we still had our mad spotty dog and took on a cat in one of the pubs we had, said cat is now living on the farm.  Spotty dog had a brain tumour and had to be put to sleep.  We decided that we could not take on any more pets due to the nature of our work, the pain it caused having them leave us, and our constant moving around from job to job.  We finally retired from the industry in early 2019 and decided to become minions.  I work in a well known supermarket and him indoors works driving local taxi's  All was well in our world.

When our world started falling apart, when my brother Ade was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer we decided to rescue a cat.

We went to a RSPCA centre close to us and picked out a kitten called Tobias, however we were shown a battered kitten called Jenson, and we were told his tale of woe.  I could not get this guy out of my mind so when it came down to signing the forms and paying the money, I just decided that battered guy was coming home with us.  So here begins the first of the three tales.

John's Story

Tobias or as he is now called John, was a very tenacious kitten who made his presence known the moment we went into the kitty pens.  We had youngest grandchild with us, so his views were going to dominate the proceedings, and it duly did.  Tobias was picked.  He was from a litter and had not really known a tough life, the only life he had known was in the kitty pen and as such he was a happy teddy.

Tobias was,we thought, a naf name for a cat, he needed a rounded and proper bloke name, so he was called John.  He is pretty barmy and very vocal.  He likes to sit on the top of doors, and then launch himself onto his unsuspecting Dad whilst he is asleep, not one of his most endearing qualities.  He is however a bit of a charmer ( although at this moment in time he is on my lap demanding affection and wanting to suck my hand).  My neighbour stated when we moved in he hated cats it took me 6 months to tell him I had two cats.  Neighbour christened him tinkerbell (bell on his collar) and has been seen feeding him bits of ham that he was cutting up for fishing bait.  So clearly the neighbor was telling porkies or John is the charmer we thought he was.

John is happy in his skin, but he is also a great cat ambassador.

Jude's Story

Well Jude has quite a sad but eventually uplifting story.  Jenson was the battered cat I was first shown, he was, beyond doubt the most wounded cat I have seen, it was not just the physical but the mental trauma he had been through.  I knew this journey was going to be tough, I just did not count on how tough it was going to be.  Thankfully we had a kitty ambassador although at the time we did not realise, nor did we realise how important his role was going to be. Jenson got a new name and that is Jude, named so because of his journey, taken from the lyrics of the famous beatles song 'Hey Jude'

"Hey Jude, don't be afraid

You were made to go out and get her
The minute you let her under your skin
Then you begin to make it better"

This poor battered kitty was found in a garden with a very severe maggot infested wound in his tail, he was pretty close to death and not yet thought to be a year old.  He was rescued and his tail was amputated but it was considered he was feral so they clipped the top of his ear and were about to release him back out onto the streets having had his boy bits done.  Luckily for him there was a wonderful lady there who rescues hedgehogs and heard about their intention to release him so she took him to the RSPCA in Langley Moor Durham which is where I found him.

We collected these guys on our way to pick up my older brother who had flown in from Portugal knowing his brother was dying.  It was not our best plan we had to drop the cats and sort out cat litter, courtesy of Jen, my husbands eldest, scatter cat food and dash to pick up my brother.  When we finally got home we found John the kitten but no sign of Jude......worrying !

He had hidden under the couch where he stayed for two weeks, only venturing out when we had gone to bed to eat and use the litter tray we had left for him.  Nightmare...

In the end I decided that we were in fact facilitating him with his game of hide and seek and we were going nowhere with this.  I took the feet off both of the couches so he had to come out......brutal but very necessary.

John kitten as he was then known befriended Jude, he would make noises to him and gently try and play, he would go and try and steal the tuna I was putting down for Jude and Jude would then come out of hiding and make sure he got his tuna.  Eventually he stopped hiding but would run away from us not accepting any form of contact.  It was heartbreaking, we just wanted to love this fur buddy but he was not having any of it....until !

One day I found him on husbands bed tucked up and fast asleep, so I quietly sat next to him, he woke up but I did not give him eye contact, I just placed my hand near to him, he did not move or run away, so I moved my hand closer and talked to him telling him was a good boy he was.  I then went in for a stroke, that was it, he lapped it up.  A cat so broken and so afraid made those huge steps and allowed himself to be loved.  I sat and cried whilst I stroked him, my husband did not think we would get there with him.  He has since moved on leaps and bounds, he loves tummy tickles and he is now a  big fan of the husband and he loves his little brother John.  He is not completely healed but he is now a whole cat who understands love and wants love.

Jeff's Story

Jeff is a new addition to the family, and I am still getting earache over this one.  Jeff formerly known as Marley had been in two homes locally.  He is about the same age as John which is about a year and four months.  Not sure why he went from the first to the second home but I know why he came to me. The family who had Marley (now Jeff) had just got a puppy and Jeff was not happy and was hiding everywhere and clearly was not having a great life, despite all efforts, he just clearly did not like dogs, so needed to be rehomed.  Being the smuck I am I was first in the queue of hands up....me .....me.....me.

And so you have it.  He fecked off the first couple of days and had me and the rest of my community of animals lover searching the streets for him.  He eventually tipped back up, but was proper arsey with my two boys.  I had to have word with him and told him he either shaped up or he was moving on.  The very next day he found his manners and was very respectful toward my boys.  I still have to train him not to get on my kitchen counters and not to use my new couch as a scratching post.  I have since bought a cat tree, he is getting there.  This morning my broken, nearly fixed cat did a very wonderful thing and something that makes me so proud of Jude.  Jude was going out but Jeff came in, they usually give each other a wide berth, but today Jude nuzzled against Jeff and then Jeff did the same.  I think this is a start of a friendship.  John and Jeff are already friends and play together and sleep together at times, but for Jude that was a huge leap of faith...well done son !

So that is the story so far :-)

16/02/2022

Jeff has since moved to pastures new.  A wholly horrible decision we had to make, but as he got older his play with his brother John had become a lot more aggressive.  John is considerably smaller, and I watched him getting battered every day, and become more withdrawn and hiding in places so Jeff could not find him.  Jeff was not a nasty guy just full of energy and wanted to play, but he played hard.  

Jeff now lives in Manchester with a lovely lady who has had Siamese cats all her life and is wise to their quirks and foibles.  He is happy in his new home, and I received a picture of him the other day which shows how content he is

Signing off for now.  I wonder what 2022 brings to the table !