Tragedy and Scandal

Today was gorgeous in the Burgh, hot and sunny. I ventured out on my daily walk, unsure of the route I was going to take. I decided just to get going and see where my feet would take me.

I came to the top of the street where we used to live and decided on a whim to walk down it to have a wee nosey around. I bumped into this gorgeous ginger tom cat who rushed over to be petted. He then proceeded to roll around on his back on the warm pavement, purring loudly.

His owner appeared from across the street and told me the cat's name was Tony. That made me smile because it's an unusual name for a cat and the name of one of my best Twitter buddies.

I told the man that we used to live in the street. He said he knew that because he remembered me but I must confess that I didn't recognise him at all.

He was telling me that a few years ago a couple who lived at the bottom of the street had an acrimonious split up and that it ended in tragedy when the husband killed himself with a shotgun while his wife was collecting some of her stuff downstairs. I didn't know them. It was very sad.

A couple that I did know, who also lived in the street, apparently got themselves into some financial difficulty and did a moonlight in the middle of the night recently. They also absconded with a year's worth of landscaping and factors fees that they had just collected from all of the residents. Scandalous, I tell you. Apparently the police are still looking for them.

I must get better at introducing myself when I meet people like this. I still don't know Tony's owner's name.

Yet another chance encounter.