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Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Billy the Benz has arrived


I had a terrible German lesson on Monday. Bill was really as crook as Rookwood all weekend and I knew he was cactus. So I didn’t do my preparation properly and finished the lesson after one hour so that I could get to the vet.

The vet confirmed the cactus diagnosis but I could hardly spifflicate the Badger on the spot as I needed to confer with Cate who I knew would want to be there to say goodbye.

So the vets agreed to come at 8:30 PM to Beatrixgasse to do the job and that they did. Very tactfully and very gently and there were of course many tears.

Billy has been with us for 15 years and we have been through many trying times together. This included 11 years of John Howard and 8 years of George Bush – which is enough to make anyone want to merge with infinity.

Bill was the Samwise Gamgee of the cat world. Staunch, loyal, selfless and heroic. He defended his Mother, Brother and Cousins whenever required and left a number of his claws and most of his teeth in cats throughout the neighbourhood in Sydney. It was always a risk bringing our ancient cats to Wien – but we could never leave them behind.

Only cat people will understand what I mean. The rest of you can sod off.

The new car was delivered today (that didn’t take long!) and has been christened Billy (the Benz) in honour of Billy the Cat. It is very bright and shiny and I have promised Cate that I will try very hard not to drive it into the side of the garage – or anything else for that matter.

I asked for a manual in English – and amazingly enough they provided one. So I will be able to work out what the widgets and gizmos are for. It will get its first run tomorrow when I collect Melissa from the airport.

Muffin is still working on the rug and has so far chewed it, scratched it, eaten on it and vomited on it - but to no avail. It appears to be impervious to her attempts to scar or hole it so I am keen to know what else she has in store.

2 comments:

  1. How is Muffin doing without Billy? When my Chopin died, my Mozart turned into an utterly bad-tempered curmudgeon and never changed back.

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  2. She's OK so far. She was Billy's mother so they were very close. We will keep a close watch on her.

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