Same old, same old

I'm actually quite pleased how the last week or so has gone. Corinna is back down here with us again, which is always nice. She is in the process of moving in, and events keep on overtaking us, so the long, slow, process is taking what seems to be an intermanable length of time. Oh well, good things come to those who wait.

When I moved up here, I decided that I was going to keep my pet numbers to a minimum. I co-own an elderly dog called Tessie with Richard and Graham, and I have an exceedingly stupid cat called `Helios 7` named after a character invented by the immortal Mr Biffo.

However, I should have known better. The best laid plans of Animals & Men always seem to go pearshaped, and at the moment, in addition to the animals in the CFZ collection (which are exhibits rather than pets, even though both Richard and I have been known to talk babytalk to the amphiumas and caecelians), we now have two degus, a rabbit, two rats (called `Len` and `Sid`) and five cats as well as the dog. Most of these animals belong to my beloved, who is welcome to do what she wants because she can't do wrong in my eyes whatever she does, and the other two are the property of a friend of ours who is staying at the moment.

So, whereas for the past ten years my old, stone house was populated by my elderly parents and their cat, and latterly by my father alone, there are all the above animals, plus the ever growing collection of exotics in the kitchen and conservatory, and tonight there will be seven of us sitting down to dinner.

Weird how things go huh?