Dr Dolittle

I am used to Robbie having long conversations with the cats and he invests a lot of effort into teaching them to tell the time. On Friday evening I witnessed a conversation between Robbie and Dave the cat. Dave had been fussing around asking to be fed and Robbie pointed up at the kitchen clock and said "when the big hand is on twelve it will be feeding time". Dave is very good communicator, his expression and his body language was more eloquent than any hand signal. He stalked off into the lounge and settled down by the fire, he preferred to examine his nether regions than to have yet another lecture on telling the time from Robbie.

The big hand finally got to 12 and true to his word Robbie fed the animals. Afterwards Dave had the devil in him and he did a couple of things to annoy Robbie, he tried to steal Robbie's food and then he sat on some newly folded laundry. When it comes to food Robbie is not good at sharing, dressed only in his underwear he pursued Dave around the lounge and the kitchen flapping a tea towel at him and telling him that he doesn't steal Dave's food and he doesn't intend to share his with Dave! Robbie chased Dave up the stairs and I heard a series of expletives emanating from the bathroom. Obviously Robbie had given up on teaching him to tell the time and was now giving him a lesson in colloquial English! Robbie announced that Dave had hidden behind the bath (I didn't really blame him) but suddenly Robbie thundered down the stairs waving an aerosol can. Dave darted into the lounge in search of protection and I told Robbie to put the can down and behave himself. I am used to acting as referee in spats between Sam and Robbie (at times it is like having two teenagers), but having a row with a cat is a step too far!

Revenge of the Pigeon

When we went to bed on Saturday night I remember hearing a slight noise and I thought perhaps it was the radiator. I woke up just before 4am because I could hear a noise I thought Robbie had accidentally allowed the cat into the room and I gave him a prod and told him to sort it out. He said the cat was downstairs and told me to go back to sleep. I heard the noise again and I sat up and put the light on and found the pigeon had decided to get into bed with Robbie! After a chorus of expletives Robbie chased the pigeon around the room wearing only a pair of luminous green socks. I felt sorry for the poor bird, it had suffered enough so I made Robbie put some clothes on! He resumed the chase wearing Homer pants, loud socks and a pair of gloves. It was all too much for the pigeon and shortly afterwards it surrendered, Robbie escorted it to the window and it flew off in search of peace and quiet. Robbie was asleep again within minutes, but I lay awake thinking about the mess and listening to a song that kept playing in my head - 'catch that pigeon' from the Dick Dastardly cartoon!