Hi,
In case there is anyone left here, can I direct you to a new blog I’m active in/on – www.strangelypark.com
It is a story / diary I’m writing about a fictional neighbourhood in Warsaw. My usual style.
If anyone does read then please let me know what you think in the comments over there. You can also follow on Facebook if that’s easier for you. There’s a link in the blog.
Thanks and happy reading!
Sad to report that our cat, Nelson, passed away sometime this afternoon at the young age of 4 years and 5 days.
What happened exactly is a mystery. This morning he was fine and through the day nothing seemed untoward. No strange behavior or funny noises. I was home most of the day as I’m sick and whilst I wasn’t paying attention to his every move, or lack of moves, I did get suspicious when I brought Zosia home from school about 15:30. He had been sleeping in the same spot for a long time and I even quipped to Zosia that “I think Nelson must be dead, he’s been sleeping for so long.”. Zosia, as usual, went over to say hello to him and then said “He is!”. Followed by a certain amount of hysteria, obviously.
He was laying in a very peaceful and relaxed way, exactly as if he was asleep except he really was dead, and quite stiff. Apparently rigor mortis comes on quite early in cats (1-4 hours) so we can only assume he passed away in his sleep, of perhaps a heart attack, sometime in the early afternoon.
He did have an unusual thing with his eyes sometimes where they would be darting quickly from side to side. The vet noticed it on a visit some time ago and seemed concerned but aside from the eye movement there were no other symptoms to indicate any problem. He was very active, could see extremely well and was in every respect a healthy cat. With the benefit of sad hindsight it might be there was an underlying neurological problem there but we’re all just speculating. The main thing is that his death appears to have been quick and as peaceful as death can be, which will be nice to remember.
He was a really great cat, a big strong handsome boy who enjoyed our company and was extremely well behaved both with us and while we were away. He always had a lot to say for himself and we had developed a way of talking by mimicking his “wa wa” noises that he actually seemed to understand. He will be greatly missed by us all but especially by Marta who was his biggest fan.
I took him to the vet who will dispose of him properly. She also could see no obvious reasons why he died.
We now search for Polish cat number five to follow in the footsteps of Kacper, Tygrys, Winston and Nelson. Although pedigree cats tend to die younger than mixed breed, it seems we don’t have much luck with cats and if I were a kitten and saw us coming I’d run a mile!
Bye Nelson, sleep well.
My posts are like London buses, you wait for ages and then four come at once! This one is just a short explanation of my current blog strategy.
There has been a renewed ‘effort’ made with the other blog I contribute to, POLANDIAN. There has also been a broadening of the scope of Polandian such that not every post needs to be strictly speaking about Poland. As such, I shall keep this blog, 20 east, as the location for purely personal stuff such as today’s posts along with the very rare other post that I feel is not right for Polandian. All other posts will be on Polandian from now on.
Although my total output will remain unchanged, or even increase, this does mean that posts here will be fewer and further between and primarily suitable for family and friends. I obviously still welcome you all as much as before and hope you continue to enjoy posts in both places. Polandian has a few other writers and I’m sure you’ll enjoy them too.
Thanks.
There comes a time when all cats should have a shower. Once every three years or so is not exactly frequent. It’s been a bit of a beauty day for him today, first a long groom with his new brush and then a shower. He’s still a bit miffed about the whole thing even now!
Zosia has been pottering around on her tiny pink thing for far too long. To be precise, since she was only three years old! Back then it was slightly too big, now it is just ridiculous despite having removed the basket, the stabilisers, the tassels and put the saddle up to max height.
Ahhhh
The time was well past then for her to step up to a big girls bike and with the funds as a komunia present from her aunt & uncle we ventured forth today to buy one. From what I’ve read, kids shoot up fast from nine onwards so we didn’t want to go crazy with this bike as it will need replacing much faster than did the pink panther. Decathlon was our first and last stop. She saw this one, tried it out and that was it.
May 20th was the date of Zosia’s “First Communion” or komunia as it is known here. For Catholics it is a serious event, one to bring the family together and another opportunity for me to demonstrate to the guy upstairs that I’m still living up to the document I signed on the day I married Marta, that my children will be brought up in the Catholic faith.
We’d like to thank everyone for attending, in total we had I think 18 at the party afterwards most from Warsaw, some from further afield in Poland and a special thanks to my parents who came from the UK. Travelling is not easy for them but I thought one last trip would be worthwhile to see Warsaw one more time, visit our new apartment and attend the komunia. They were last here for Zosia’s christening, nine years ago and they could see better than we can how much Warsaw has changed since then.
I only took a few photos as I was concentrating on the video – not that the concentration helped the quality! Both can be seen below.
The Photos
Family
Zosia & friend
Waiting to go in
The whole gang
Having a laugh
At the “after party”
The (10 minute) Video
The original pictures can be found here – http://scatts.zenfolio.com/p165784836
I’ve noticed people generally fall into two groups when it comes to speaking on the telephone; those who walk around and those who don’t.
In our house the ladies are both walkers. The instant the mobile is at the ear the legs start working, almost as if the radiation from the phone is triggering receptors in the walking part of the brain. I’m the opposite most of the time although even for me some conversations require movement.
Zosia has had her phone for about a year now. At age 8 it was largely unused and not really understood but now age 9 it is becoming a widely used tool for communication with her girlfriends via SMS and voice. As yet email is not well developed or used. Fascinating to see the early development of what will become a large part of her life to come.
In the photo above she was taking a 15 second break in the walkabout. Below she is multi-tasking with phone and Monster High dolls!
