The Kitten has been fixed!

Given our impending departure for Bali, I decided I had to stop procrastinating in the 'fixing' of the kitten...procrastination was due mainly to the trek it takes to get to the vet (which will be described later!).

So last Thursday I dropped the kitten off at the vet before work for her little 'operation', instructions received from the vet were that I could pick her up after work on Friday. We agreed that I would come to the vets about 8-8:30 in the evening.

Friday at about 6pm my phone rang...the Vet..."Where are you? We are waiting"..I reminded them that we had agreed between 8-8:30..."I know, but I want to go home now, so you have to come now"...rushing anywhere in BKK traffic, during the rushhour on a Friday night..is just never going to happen...but, I downed tools immediately, bolted out the door and then sat in traffic for the next hour, finally reaching the vet at 7:15pm.

The Kitten looked very subdued, not happy...mainly due to the huge collar around her neck (exhibit A & B).





The collar meant that her sense of direction and balance etc were all over the place, when we got home she kept reversing everywhere, wouldn't turn round properly and kept stopping still in the middle of rooms and corridors...not a happy Kitten!

I had to take her back to the vet on Monday evening to have the wound checked. Appointment was for 6:30pm. The plan was to leave work at 5pm...this is how the evening panned out....

4:50pm - leave basement (second basement) office (no windows, no idea of weather outside) with the aim of getting a taxi...look out the window and realise it is pissing (and I mean pissing!) with rain...(exhibit C & D)




4:55pm - grab umbrella from unsuspecting colleague! And go stand outside in the rain

5:30pm - finally get a taxi...by now am soaked, head, shoulders, bag, trousers up the crotch..shoes ruined...all soaked...

6:30pm - finally get home ( a trip of normally 10 minutes) to grap unsuspecting and unhappy kitten.... Kitten has (I realise belatedly) ripped off her collar and when I go to look for it...she has hidden it somewhere...

6:45pm - call vets...tell them I'm late due to weather etc..but am on the way. Leave my flat...down to the road side...water by this stage about half way to my knees (I have changed to grotty trousers and flip flops and hence look a sight!)

6:47pm - it starts to rain harder (if that's possible) and the wind starts blowing too...therefore myself AND the Kitten are now soaking...and both fairly miserable...

7:00pm - finally a taxi arrives (and stops) that will take an animal and a wet gweipo/farang/wild woman of Borneo...all pile in...got to love that air con...take kitten out of box and put underneath my Tshirt to warm her up..or at least try to...

8pm - finally arrive at the vet; ignore comment from receptionst along the lines of "You're late and will have to wait for next appointment".

8:10pm - vet calls us in...all ok...come back Wednesday for the stitches to be taken out....

8:20pm - outside again, in the pissing rain, waiting for a taxi...

8:40pm - elephant comes out of a neighbouring soi...goes to the animal hospital..they open the doors, elephant kneels down sticks his head in the door and vet does something to its trunk - elephant then stands up and leaves...vet locks double doors - only in Thailand!

9pm - get a taxi...after having to agree to pay about 10 times the normal rate....

10pm - get home....

11pm - find the collar.....

Midnight - discover the Kitten happily watching TV!! (exhibit E)

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Big Brother is listening...

I think that my relocation company was eavesdropping on conversation with the Island Boy.

I asked the relocation company for a quote for the cats to be shipped from Bangkok to Jakarta*. The quote came back today...they've quoted for 40Kg of airfreight cargo....just how big do they think these Kitties are...??!!!!!

The two together weigh 7.5Kg...plus crate of about 10Kgs...plus the measurement allowance...never in all my days of flying cats around has the weight come anywhere near 40Kgs..!!! Needless to say, I shall be doing this myself!!

* It seems that getting animals into Indonesia is rather complicated, they cannot go direct to Bali, but have to go via Jakarta where they need to do 14 days of quarantine..and then, this is the kicker, they have to go overland to Bali...an average of about a 20 hour drive...what a nightmare...

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Chiang Kai-shek's new bed!

Dinner a few days ago...arrived by delivery....and Chiang Kai-shek has slept in the delivery box every night since....



Not too sure what she's trying to tell me...

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It's the little things in life...

Well, I finally have broadband at home...and IDD....and by the end of the week, will have a new kitty to add to the household
(Chiang Kai-shek has been terribly lonely), her name is Clara at the moment...possibly options...Sun Yat-sen or Soong May-ling!



Other than work and setting up home, have done fairly little in the way of touristy things...however, the Island Boy is due in this coming weekend...so no doubt there will be some sightseeing done then. But...if you class going 'out on the town' as the touristy thing then last weekend, in the company of the always intelligent E@L and the somewhat charming (in an 'arrogant tosser' sort of a way!) company of Indy, I ventured to Dream Hotel (Flava), Bed SupperClub and Q Bar....I must say, it would have been hard to find better company for such an outing...

The Sunday evening, in the company of the same two reprobates mentioned above...saw an Indian dinner being consumed under the watchful eye of Yasser Arafat by way of a huge framed pictures directly opposite E@L's seat....I guess that will teach him to pick the restaurant of choice from a review posted above a urinal in a girlie bar at Nana Plaza.... Seriously... you can't make this stuff up!!!

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the best laid plans of mice and men.....

Well it seems that three out of the five people I spoke to at Philippine Airlines were correct.... taking a cat on the plane with you is really that simple......

For those that are interested...you arrive at the airport as normal, baggage goes through the x-ray machine, cat doesn't...they originally wanted me to take the cat out and put the box through...but we agreed maybe that wasn't such a good idea...! Then a quick visit to the quarantine official, he checks the paperwork, stamps the health certificate and its over to check in...Kitty gets charged as excess baggage and gets taken away by a special ground staff who puts him on the plane....no baggage conveyor belt for her! All very simple....lets see what happens when I get to BKK!!!!

Actually, it all seems to be quite normal (I must admit due to flight/living arrangements, my cats have normally either followed me or gone ahead...I've never travelled with them...so this was all new for me).

One thing that did help was that when I arrived, for the first time, I used one of the porters that skulk at the entrance...he was fantastic...knew what to do, where to go, how to deal with the cat, excess baggage etc....absolutely first rate..and yes, I was surprised...but to be honest from the minute he saw the cat - he just rattled off what we needed to do and what the procedures were and before we even entered the airport he asked if I had all her documentation etc.... quite the expert.

Anyway, Chiang Kai-shek was last seen at the chekc-in desk, cowering in the back of her cage...poor thing, she looked terrified.. she normally has Chairman Mao with her and they normally curl up together in the back of the cage looking like big furry gloves! This is her first trip without him....so I hope she's ok...

So far all has gone according to plan, lets see what happens at the other end... updates later!

One thing that does make me smile at this airport...is the boarding announcements...always finished with "All aboard".....its hysterical, like a bus station...and it does remind me of Airplane!

Thanks to those of you who have texted or e-mailed over the last few days....I will answer when I am settled somewhere in BKK with a cup of tea...hopefully later today!

Anyway, that's my flight they're calling.....All Aboard!

Over and out!

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The cats need more air miles.....!

Seeing as you have all become bored of me blogging endlessly about my numerous trips to Cebu and equally numerous gripes about taxis in Manila...I've decided to come up with a new subject to blog about.....and strangely a new location....

So, from the beginning of July (Insh'allah), I shall be living in the city which has this river...


a myriad of Temples and Palaces...


and neighbours like these...

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It's kind of busy at work so.....

Modern technology can't help us, but a room full of snakes can! Actually I kind of know how they feel...my submitting a request for annual leave is the hotel's signal that something will happen...in May my leave was cancelled due to major upheavels at work, in November, the same thing...this morning I submitted a leave request for the end January/beginning February....there are a few people sitting here with their heads in their hands wondering what will happen this time!

Richard Hammond back out on the open road....one, very lucky, lucky Hamster.

Music listening at the moment is the Virgin Radio Top 500....some old favourites I had forgotten about..Alannah MylesBlack Velvet, just to name one...

Asia's World City, is ever so slightly out of touch with the rest of the world. Spike has another take on the story. In the Philippines, we have been asked to limit our phone calls over seas. It happens, in Jordan we lost our internet connections for a week due to an earthquake in Algeria.

The Best of the BBC's weekly caption competition is out....my all time favourite was this one.

Arab media commentary on the 'upcoming' death of Saddam Hussein.

Whenever I mention snow in Jordan...people look at me as if I'm a little daft...and repeat very slowly..."Snow...in Jordan?"...and yes it does...from today's Jordan Times (link only lasts the week)


AMMAN — Around 3,000 cars remained stranded on the Maan-Aqaba highway late Thursday due to the severe snow blizzard, with the onset of frost hindering rescue operations, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Snow ploughs have been in action in Karak, Tafileh and Maan, while helicopters were called in to evacuate stranded citizens and tourists.

Tony Blair's holiday under scrutiny again...

The Sloane Ranger grows up...I guess it happens to all of us...although I still have my barbour, I also fit the grown up version...I just hope that to celebrate the 25 years they reprint the handbook...mine fell apart!!!

There are only a few reasons to have a cat....this could be one of them...although I can't see either of my two doing this...

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Be prepared, just don't leave them lying around....

Those of you that have been reading my drivel for a while, will be aware of a certain tendancy of my male visitors to leave articles of clothing lying around...

Those of you that have been reading my drivel for a while will be aware of Chairman Mao's tendancy to cause chaos....included in the chaos is his tendancy to pick up small things that make a noise, or just push them off the side they are on and then carry them around for a while and finally deposit them as a trophy somewhere near me....this covers, bottle lids, coins, bits of paper, plastic wrapping, sellotape pieces....as a result I am very careful about what I leave lying around...Chairman Mao also likes to go through my handbag on a regular basis with his paws and likes sitting up on the counter in the bathroom and watching whilst people brush their teeth and generally go about their ablutions...

Before the Island boy left on Thursday I did check carefully he hadnt left anything behind...I cant take the accusing looks from the laundry ladies anymore.... and the area was clear...he left, I went back to bed to snooze...I remember waking up and Chairman Mao was playing with something crinkly...I assumed it was the plastic seal of a bottle of water...

Later he came and gave me his trophy gift....it was a nice new condom still in its shiny, metallic wrapping... oh joy....

That's it....no more overnight guests... it's just not worth it!!!

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Honestly, I was just petting the good looking drunk guy...!!!

Yesterday when reading Indy's post for the love of pussy, I actually laughed out loud...and kept giggling all day just thinking of this one line....

There is a reason why a dog is man’s best friend…would Russell Crowe have been taken half as seriously as Maximus if he’d gone into battle with a Persian Cat…I don’t think so!

I may not agree entirely with Indy's comments, being the owner of two furry felines would explain my incomplete agreement. However, to a certain extent I can see his point...I love hounds...favourite breeds - Scottish Deerhound, Irish Wolfhound and German Shepherds. But the hours that I work, the places that I live and my overall lifestyle is not conducive to looking after a dog. So 8 years ago I made the decision to take home two street cats from Causeway Bay....its a decision I've never regretted. However, I am fortunate, Chairman Mao is as much a dog as any canine you would wish to meet...he sits, stays, stops squeaking, all on command...and he'll fetch as well! Chiang Kai-shek....well being the grouchy, unsociable character that she is...I never have to worry about her 'cat' behaviour, she curls up in bed at night to sleep and that's as good as it gets!

And whilst touching briefly on the subject of pets....in the first edition of the Philippine Maxim magazine (a friend of mine was profiled, hence I was flicking through the magazine!!!), there was a rather amusing quote....

Men are like pets, every woman should have one"

And today's post from Indy, hear, hear!!! I know he only surveyed the 'blokes in the pub', but speaking for myself I can safely say I agree completely!

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