Silke's second Christmas in England (the fourth story)
I am Silke. I am cat. I am sleek and black with shiny fur. I am happy. I am in love with my Forever Human. He is a man. A kind and gentle man. All the other humans like him.
The weather was getting a little cooler, and some winds were stronger. I knew winter was coming to Spain.
Vicente the builder still came quite regularly doing jobs around the house, but nothing big. He always makes me fight with him, I am gentle but use my war cries as I kill his hand. I am very fierce in this game. But I hold back my claws and don’t bite hard as I know it is a game.
The house has central heating, and it is warm and cosy. The rain and wind are outside, there are no drafts. I have my cat door and come and go as I please. I am the only cat that comes in through this door. Other cats try, but it does not work for them. For me it gives a squeak and lets me in.
One day I noticed my forever human had got a suitcase out. I then noticed boxes in the hallway.
He kept asking me if I would like to go to England?
Then he took me to see Rosa the vet. She inspected me and stamped my passport a little blue book.
The next day the car was loaded, my forever human left the doors open so I could inspect the car, all my things were on board so I knew we are off on our travels. I was excited and frisked around in the garden. I did not want to leave just yet. My human caught me, put me in the car closed the doors, and we were off.
I yowled. I yowled at the window, I yowled at the mountain disappearing behind us, I yowled at the dogs barking in their yards, I yowled at anything. I was excited.
We turned out of the small roads onto the main road, I came and nuzzled my human then settled into my basket. This is my high level travel basket, I can see out, I am happy.
Soon we joined the big fast roads through the toll barrier. When the car is nearly at the barrier there is a squeak, then the barrier goes up and the traffic light turns green, I miaow.
The big trucks are growling along with the horrible noise they make. For the first few, I look at them to make sure we pass them. There is no problem, they never chase us and we are much faster. We pass them quickly. I know this journey will be long so I wash and settle down to snooze.
After a few hours we stop and give the car its smelly drink. We park the car and my human leaves me in the car. He gets a coffee and a sandwich. We move to a quieter place open the car door so I can get out but not far as he has me tied into the car with my harness on. Then he takes me for a little walk on some grass. Suddenly I see big trucks I am scared, I want to run back to the car. My human lets me go back. We get in the car and drive again.
It is getting dark now , we have been driving all day and the mountains in the distance have snow on the top. We have been through many tolls, and passed many big trucks. The border crossing from Spain into France is clear and free, we drive through without stopping, then we change roads leaving the big road behind.
The lady in the box keeps talking to us at roundabouts and junctions, my human tells her off as she always gets this bit wrong, and he knows that. Then she says …..“recalculating”….. and he is happy again and she goes quiet.
The road is just 2 way now and winds across the French countryside into the night. I settle down on my cushion and only sit up and take notice when we go through villages.
The villages are pretty with Christmas lights across the narrow streets, I like them.
Finally we come to a little village and turn off the main road into the narrow road that runs up into the mountains. I know where I am. Then we come the house where the lovely man and woman live, the ones with the big dog called Athos. Athos rushes out to meet us, barking, I hiss at him.
My stuff is in the same room and my human goes down for dinner. I am so happy. Cats like routine. I know this place. I am comfortable and fall into a nice sleep knowing my human will come up soon. He does. He goes to sleep and I snuggle up on the bed.
In the morning we set off again. Saying Goodbye to the lovely man and woman.And Athos the dog. Athos is limping a little, he is old and has Arthritis.
The day passes in a blur of stops for fuel, tolls, and trucks being passed.
We stop at a small Hotel in the middle of no where. It is old. I am on my harness and make it as difficult as possible for my human, as I want to explore. We argue, as I pull hard on the harness until he picks me up and carries me.
The room is nice and warm. He goes off for dinner and I snooze. Then he comes back, we both sleep.
In the morning I want a walk. But there is no where to walk me. We drive away from the old hotel into the frozen French countryside. It is a Saturday morning so everything is quiet. There is a light mist, and its cold and frosty.
Finally we leave the small roads and get onto the big ones again. Today there are few Trucks on the road.
We get to the tunnel, my human loads me into my basket and once again we go into the vet which is not a vet. There is no one in front, a scanner passes over me and my chip is read, my passport is checked and we are good to go. On the way out a boisterous dog wants to stick its nose in my cage, I hiss and try to scratch his nose.
We get back in the car and I am happily on my travel box and cushion as we go through the check posts, before we wait in line for the train. We don’t have to wait long. Then we drive into the train. The engine is off. We relax in the car, I sit on my human’s lap Lots of noise from people speaking and the train begins to move, I hide in my travel box which is like a cave under stuff on the back seat. No one can see me here. I refuse to come out.
At the other end, I get back on my travel box, it is raining, the wipers are on and we are driving on a different side of the road. Slip slop….My human starts off by driving gently letting the ones who are more aggressive go and get away from us, then he eases the car into the traffic flow and we cruise along as usual, the Mercedes quietly humming away.
We turn off and I take notice. There are no tolls on the big roads in England. We are in English countryside and although winter is here, it is beautiful. We stop in a town, in a supermarket car park. I am left in the car and I am not happy about it.
My human comes out with a cart loaded with shopping, he loads it into the car as I try to get out of the car. But he will not let me. I want to bite him.
Then we start the car and try to get out of the car park, instead we go in deeper. A lady with her nose in the air, pushes a laden cart straight out in front of us making us stop, as she opens her big black four wheel drive, to load it. She is blocking the road completely. She is making us wait. My human sits patiently, stuck, as there are cars behind. Suddenly she realises how rude she is being to so many people, looks up and sees me driving the car. She is shocked. She dithers and stares at me again before she realises my human is driving and the steering wheel is on the other side! She sheepishly moves her cart out of the way and with a polite wave my human cruises past. I stare at her, turning my head as we go by as I stand up at the dashboard, she stares back. I Miaow at her for staring at me. Other cars behind mouth curses at her for being rude.
We drive out of the town on country roads in the rain. We drive into a nice place. There are wood cabins around and that soft green English grass.
I wait in the car a short while and then we drive to a cabin.
There finally I am allowed out. My lead is un hooked and while my human unloads the car into the cabin, I run and jump, frisk, and explore this new place. The rain had stopped but now it starts and I rush inside to enjoy my food, then we sit down and watch TV. It is a small but very nice place, and my dirt box is in the bathroom.
We are cosy warm and dry. I am happy. I love my human, I sleep on his bed.
Next morning he puts on my harness, and puts me in the car. it is cold and frosty and I don’t want to go. I yowl.
We don’t go far. He takes me to an area of woods and common land and we go for a walk with me running free without the harness, I love the smells and sounds. The birds, the dead leaves. We follow small footpaths. I love it I am happy.
My human walks slowly so I don't get lost. Sometimes I run ahead. But never far. He knows this place I do not.
He stops often so that I can pause and take in all that I see and smell. I like that.
We wander.
Suddenly he rushes to me and picks me up holding me tight. Dog he says quietly. There are in fact 2 and the nice dog walkers have put them on leads so that they do not frighten me. The Lady and Gent are impressed I am going for a walk and stop to talk. The dogs are small and just sniff around my humans feet, then off they go , tails wagging and once far enough away are let off their leads. My human puts me down and we find a wide path that is chewed up with light sandy dirt.
After a short while we cut off to a grassy area to one side. I love it. My human has crossed this area and is nearly at the car when I hear it first….
A thunderous pounding of the ground, lots of heavy huffing and puffing and its getting closer very quickly, I am terrified, I bound towards my human in 2 metre leaps, I see him and the car but I cannot get to the car in time so I rush under a bush to hide, the noise stops, and walking quietly into the car park is a horse and rider. My human opens the car door, but I am watching that horse and not about to go anywhere. Never have I seen such big creature and it moved so fast. When I think it is safe I run with my belly on the ground into the safety of the car, I watch the horse walk off into the woods. My human tries to calm me down but I am too scared for that. I am fluffed up.
We go home. My human leaves me to sleep.
There is no door for me to use but I have my dirt box so when my human is around he opens the front door for me, when he is out I am inside sleeping and cozy. I can watch dogs on leads go by, I can watch birds flying around, there are many more birds in England than in Spain. A window is TV for me.
Every day we go for a walk to the same place, I love it. I love my human.
Christmas day comes. We have a quiet Christmas and watch TV. There is a film on called “How to train your dragon”. I don’t know of dragons, I do know cats and I think this is a cat. I watch it happily. It is a favourite film. TV is strange, creatures come into the house which I cannot smell, and sometimes there is music so I cannot hear what sound the creatures make. I like How to train your dragon. I think it is cat that can fly.
Next day my human goes to lunch, he comes home a little sad, and starts to pack everything but the essentials. In the morning he packs the car, I jump in happily knowing we are going home, and we set off on our journey back to Spain.
We stay at a beautiful Hotel in France called Les Etangs de Guibert. Etang in French means a wild fresh water lake. It has ducks and geese on it but we arrived in the dark and left early so I cannot tell you about the lake until the next story.
We stop the car in a Forest full of tall Beech trees. It is frosty and cold. The leaves on the ground are Beech leaves. They are cold on my paws and go crunch when I walk on them. I try to not walk on them as they are very cold but I have 4 paws and at least 3 need to be on the ground. My human chuckles as he thinks it looks like I am dancing. We don't stay long and go back to the car. My human turns on the heater and cosy and warm we set off to the Pyrenees Mountains. We drive all day and stay with the lovely Man, Woman and Athos.
The next day we go for a short walk near the ruined castle near where Athos lives. It is frosty and cold but the mountain air is so fresh it is a joy to breathe. We drive all day and arrive home in Spain in the evening. I am happy to be home. It is warm and there is no rain. I am happy. I dream of my adventures, of passing trucks and toll barriers. I dream of my short walk in the woods near where Athos lives. I dream of the birds in England, the song they make, and the smells of the dead leaves in the woods. I dream of the soft English grass. I dream of the journey. I dream of frozen leaves and the wonderful sights and sounds of the forest. I dream of being a flying cat.
I love my forever human.
I am well travelled cat.