Mandu's Favourites

Three years ago, we adopted a gorgeous fluffy black cat and, as all cats do, she immediately took over the running of the house. Like the wonderful writer Deric Longden and his wife Aileen, we allowed her to explore every corner of the house, provided her with delicious food on demand, and welcomed her into our bedroom at night where she would either stretch out picturesquely in between us or skilfully manoeuvre one of us off our respective pillows during the night in order to ensure maximum comfort for herself. Even during my pregnancy she was undeterred by the decreasing amount of space I was able to offer her and simply curled up on Ben's side of the bed; she loves him more anyway, and is, I suspect, just waiting for the moment when she can replace me as the lady of the house. I doubt she'll undertake to do her fair share of the household chores though.

Anyway, five weeks ago our beautiful baby son Joshua was born, and in the interests of hygiene Mandu has been banned from our bedroom in case she decides the Moses basket might make the ideal spot for an afternoon nap. Indignant at first, she now happily spends her nights selling all our possessions on eBay and soliciting friends on Facebook, and her days testing out the different sleeping possibilities around the house, giving them each a grade for relative softness and comfort. Today's choice is pictured above - the pile of towels in the bathroom, placed for her personal convenience next to a nice warm radiator. Now, what was that about the interests of hygiene? Oh, never mind...you have to pick your battles, don't you?