The curious incident of the cat in the driveway...

As if last night wasn't enough... lupercal got home early from work - hurrah! So we decided to nip up to the off-licence to get some beer. On the way we passed what lupercal said was a bit of tree, but I wasn't convinced, so nipped back to check - and it was an injured woodpigeon, stunned and just standing in the road. So we captured it in a teatowel and put in a cardboar box before phoning the RSPCA. Eventually someone turned up for it - I presume it would just be taken to a vet and put down, but better that then being left in the road. Unfortunately I am not myself au fait with rining birds' necks.

But this morning - well, actually early afternoon - there is a knock on the door and two wide-eyed over excited children there to tell me, with weighty horror, that there is a dead cat in my drive. That awful, stomach lurching moment of 'Oh God - which one is it???'. None of mine, but a white and black cat, with a dark red collar, no ID. There follows nearly two hours of phoning around to try and find out if anyone has reported the cat missing, and what I can actually do with the body, along with a further call from the children who might know who it belongs to and a wild goose chase. I won't go into the details, but suffice to say that if you find a dead animal out of office hours you're pretty much screwed. Thankfully in the end, Southside emergency veterinary centre said they'd take the body and scan it for a microchip, so we were able to drive to Hall Green and leave it - her, as it turns about, about three years old looking at the teeth, apparently, with them.

So all in all, it's been somewhat of a stressful day, and the list of things I had to get done is alas, not done at all. I think a large glass of port is in order...