© Adrian Mugridge (2018)
Boo
She wondered in one day
We
owned
Boo
for
10
years,
from
the
age
of
7
until
she
died
when
she
was
17.
She
used
to
belong
to
a
neighbour,
but
one
day
she
wondered
in
and
was
unwilling
to
leave.
Her
previous
owner
was
moving
house
so
she
ended
up
moving
in.
She
used
to
nose
around
the
house
and
sometimes
could
be
found
sat
on
the
loo
seat
trying
to
drink
out
of
it.
She
also
used
to
sit
by
the
computer
keyboard
and
chase
my
hands
around
the
keyboard
and
mouse.
Once
I
was
working
in
the
loft
and
she
climbed
up
the
step
ladder
and
leaped
though
the
loft
hatch
and
spent
30
minutes
exploring
the
pipes
and
the
water
tank.
She
had
to
be
lowered
down
in
her
basket
after
tempting
her
into
it
with
biscuits.
Her
favourite
spots
were
the
bench
on
the
patio,
under the pear tree, on the fence, or on the shed roof.
And stayed for 10 years
She
was
not
a
hugely
energetic
cat,
and
was
sometimes
rather
staid
and
aloof.
She
would
always
come
and
sit
next
to
you,
normally
on
the
arm
of
the
settee,
but
never
on
you,
she
was
not
a
lap-cat
!
About
a
year
before
she
died,
she
lost
her
sight.
We
did
not
even
notice
until
the
vet
spotted
it.
It
seems
this
is
very
common
for
cats
to
go
blind
in
old
age,
and
also
very
common
that
their
owners
don’t
realise
that
they
can’t
see.
Cats
map
out
their
surroundings
and
hold
a
map
in
their
heads,
with
them
at
the
centre
of
it.
She
would
happily
walk
from
the
bottom
of
the
garden,
through
the
gap
in
the
little
wall
between
the
patio
and
lawn,
enter
via
her
flap,
then
through
the
kitchen
door,
into
the
lounge,
up
the
stairs,
turn
half
way
up,
into
the
bedroom,
jump
up
onto
the
bed
and
settle
down
without
bumping
into
anything !
Pear tree
She’s
now
buried
under
the
pear
tree,
which
was
her
favourite
spot
when
the sun was shining and she could warm herself up !