Puss in Books!

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We were talking yesterday on the Word Wenches Blog about how our pets manipulate us, train us and generally make sure that if we are paying too much attention to our writing and too little to them then that imbalance will be addressed as quickly as possible. The natural charm and intelligence of animals cannot be overestimated and here, to prove the point, is the story of Puss in Books, Fidel the cat, who has visited his library in Kent almost every day for the past 2 years. Fidel spends the day on his favourite blue chair, only leaving the building when he sees his owners arriving home. As well as checking out the books, Fidel is apparently something of an art critic and has been seen examining the paintings on the library walls. The story is on the BBC at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/8021407.stm and yes, you guessed it, it's one of the most emailed news stories of the day!

The story reminded me of a talk I did at Pewsey Library a few months ago. When I arrived a rather beautiful ginger cat was waiting on the doorstep and came inside with me. When the librarian tried to show her the door she refused to leave, clearly determined to learn more about Regency Christmas customs! She sat down in the front row but decided she wanted to go after twenty minutes. Evidently my public speaking skills need improvement!

Comments

Carol Townend said…
Hi Nicola,
It's all true about pets wanting attention! We had a cat and whenever I was cutting out dress patterns, she would come and sit right in the middle of the fabric. Never failed. Another of her tricks was that she always wanted to be on the other side of the door. Any door. As she grew older she sometimes had difficulty deciding where to be, and then she would lie across the doorway, especially so everyone would trip over her!
28 April 2009 at 13:44
Nicola Cornick said…
Chuckling into my cup of tea here, Carol! There's something about cats, isn't there, that prompts them to sit in the most inconvenient place imaginable, be it on fabric, newspapers or in suitcases.
28 April 2009 at 14:16
Nicola Cornick said…
Yes, they do rather have a special talent, don't they!
30 April 2009 at 21:26
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