Wednesday December 14, 2005

Pets

Every parents nightmare. Can I have a pet xyz ? >

While living with my parents we had a variety of pets. I remember keeping stick insects in an old aquarium I cannot remember where I got them from or what eventually happened to them. While we still lived in Norfolk I got a tortoise inevitabley called tommy. He lived in our greenhouse and he did his best to escape every day poor thing. He made it out one day and we thought we had lost him. But he was found a few months later and went back to the greenhouse. Of course you have to make sure these animals hibernate each winter and that is when a lot are lost I think. When we moved to Cambridge he must have thought he was in seventh heaven. We lived in a bungalow on an old Victorian kitchen garden with a twelve foot wall around it. So we could let him loose every spring and catch him in the autumn to hibernate him. Sadly one year he did not make the winter and that was the end of tortoise keeping. Before we moved to Cambridge my parents succumbed to us having a dog. But what type ? We had a big garden and fair sized house and as my mother did not work it would not be left alone in the house. We thought of a Basset hound until we saw how big they got. Beagles were considered but eventually a miniature short haired dachshund was chosen otherwise known as a sausage dog. We got one from some folks who bred them and they showed us the family tree of the dogs. We got a female puppy named Tielwood Angelica, we called her Trixie. We all grew found of the dog and she had a few odd habits that were quite funny. She loved a old cup of tea and if you left a half drunk mug of tea on the floor she would help herself. Very often when we got up she would sleep on my parents bed under the sheets. It was a devil of a job to get her out of bed it usually ended up with a stand off with her growling to put you off moving her. She disgraced herself one time when we visited my mothers auntie who kept turkeys. Trixie had never seen or met bird that could not fly off when she chased them. She gave them a chase and one died from the shock. After a good life she died and my parents bought another dachshund this time a full sized one with a black and tan coat. This dog, a male was completely mad. His name was Bill and soon after my parents got a second black and tan one which they called Oscar. Things got crazy at this point as they later on rescued a miniature one a female and the two boys fell out big time - naturally over who should be the chosen partner. Bill lost out and ended up going to a new home in Bristol. Way before this time I oddly developed an allergic reaction to animal hair and had to keep well away from these animals.

When I moved to Oxford with my wife the old owner of the house had two cats. They did not get on so she asked if we were interested in taking one on. Despite my allergy we decided to give it a go. The cats name was Vivien, a white cat with a massive head. We always thought she would suit having a stud on her forehead. She was very stroppy just like Vivien in the Young ones . The allergy was not so good so we advertised for a new home for her. I never knew how popular white cats were. We got loads of calls for days after the advert. She went to a chap who was disabled and his old cat had been run over so I think she went to a good home. We don't have pets now, I just enjoy the frogs, birds and other creatures in the garden thank you.