Monday, September 28, 2009

cats, storms, on time


Posted by PicasaApart from surrounding the statue of the painter and writer, Santiago Rusinol , a little garden opposite the sea, has become a refuge for cats. Generally they are the sort of cats, which people would not choose to keep as pets. Nevertheless cat lovers are happy to leave bowls of food and water, which suffice to keep the cats comfortable. However the demands on space in this garden are substantially reduced by competing cat lovers. Some people, who own holiday apartments at the other end of the sea front, are cat lovers before all else, and have at any one time, as many as 40 cats on their premises. So much do they love cats that they admit, that on once occasion they flew an old cat of theirs to Switzerland for medical treatment at a cost of £25 000.
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"You must have had terrible weather," says a neighbour, whose son has just returned from holiday in Majorca, which is not very far south off Sitges and Barcelona . He is complaining of constant storms. We say that we saw the storms at sea and on the horizon, but rarely if ever felt their effects. We saw the play but did not take part in it.
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In the period of my life when I had staff to manage, I hit on the idea, tongue in cheek, of setting the time of meetings to the minute but not on the hour or quarters of an hour. Now I find that I have an appointment at the doctor's surgery for a flue jab at precisely 4.39 pm. It's a good idea because it gives the impression of urgency and of a busy schedule; and perhaps ensures that feckless patients remember to show up.

2 comments:

CC said...

Love the sleepy cats. The Tortie in front resembles my Tizzy's Ma. Because of her all over tan, black and reddish markings, when she closes her eyes, her face "disappears".

Roderick Robinson said...

That 4.39 pm is almost certainly a bit of medical mendacity, so prepare yourself for a disappointment. I take it your doctor, like ours, has one of those touch panels by which you confirm your presence in the waiting room. The panel also announces - to a nigglingly precise single minute - how long you will be delayed. Doctors are always able to defend their delays on the basis that each patient (and his/her ailment) is unique; yet this machine clearly undermines this reasoning. Hmmm. The season for being ill is almost upon us and I foresee one of those doctor/patient chats as I get to the bottom of this knotty philosophical point.