My Cat Tia Is Missing

This will hopefully be my last blog post ... it's just one of many promises I've made over the last few days, if only my cat comes back.

The first promise was that if I was to win the game of solitaire I was playing on my mobile phone [Saturday], then she was sure to come back. I won the game and subsequently promised not to waste any more time playing it ... I have kept this promise.

The second promise was that if she was to return by the end of the day [Sunday] then I would have my hair cut short ... I am growing it, it's my one vanity, it's thick and curly [although insane at this point of growing].

The third promise was to donate half my wages to charities every week if she was to return by the end of the day [yesterday].

I have now registered her as a missing pet, it took me three days to do this because I refused to believe she was gone.

She was thoroughly stressed out both Thursday and Friday mornings, they were breaking the ground up [very close to us] in an earth shattering way, ready for the new footpath to the bridge. As soon as I got up [she feels safe while I'm in bed] she ran into the back bedroom and jumped through the window onto the kitchen roof, this was Friday morning. When we're home she routinely goes out for the day but knocks on the door at tea-time.

Yesterday was awful ... our main hope was that she'd gone to hide in one of the Asda storage containers, and of course no-one was working Sunday. The grumpy old man [who incidentally is as upset as I am], asked on the building site if he could go with one of them to check to see if she was hiding in a container - on Heanor Haulage land, where she's always hung out. We've had to go more than once to fetch her back when she's been left at home alone in the last few years.

The GOM was told he couldn't go on the site, but the site manager said he'd check himself - fair enough, it's a busy site, although the containers are well away from the Asda building - I can practically reach one of them [with a fairly long stick] over my neighbours fence. The main reason the GOM wanted to check himself is because if she is hiding in one of them, she'll hide from anyone unfamiliar but make a heck of a row if he calls her name and whistles her from close by.

I'm listening so hard for the jingle of her bell that my ears are aching, this isn't helped by my neighbours cats who jingle up and down the entry every five minutes, although it's a slightly different tone. I'd decided to lie down for five minutes yesterday afternoon - I'd been pacing from room to room, half the night and all day, up and downstairs to check through the windows - when I heard meowing at the back door, I shot up and ran to look through the window, convinced she was back, only to see my neighbours cat [he's been inherited and not sure where he lives yet]. This did nothing for my headache and I wept buckets.

I know there are many people who have had far worse happen to them, but I'm one of those sad, childless women [not by choice] who has always had a pet as a baby substitute - I've had dogs die and I've mourned them but the disappearance of my cat is agony.

The list of things I miss about her are endless, but the first thing on it, is how she insisted I put my arm around her in bed at night, and if she woke to find I was facing the wrong way [towards the GOM], she'd pat me on the shoulder - getting a bit more insistent with each pat [claws], until I woke up and turned back to face her.

What I really didn't need was some smart alec bastard phoning me up from Queen Street rec to tell me that they'd got my cat and had found her at Tesco Heanor! I was half expecting calls like this as the GOM has just put put posters up about her being missing.

My last promise if she comes back is to stop annoying people by writing this blog. So if you see a chunky woman with very, very short blonde hair, dressed in rags [due to the charitable donations] ... but with a huge grin walking around Langley Mill, it'll be me - with Tia safe at home ...

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Update ... Tia is home!!