The mornings are very difficult for me at the moment. Long-time readers of this blog will know that some time in 2005, I took the radical step of waking up, and getting out of bed, at 5am every morning. I haven’t written much about this lately. I guess it’s now so much of my routine, that it’s well, become routine, and there’s not a lot to say about that.
Why is it difficult at the moment? Physically getting up at 5am is not the problem. The problem is that Baubles the Cat was so much a part of that 5am routine that there is a gaping hole in my mornings. I think Baubles loved the early mornings as much as I did/do.
Baubles usually slept on our bed, right next to my feet, and when the alarm went off I could usually sense her looking at me, waiting for me to sit up. Sometimes, if I lay in bed too long (usually listening to the 5am news or Asia Pacific) she would walk up and sniff my face. She had the cute habit of standing up when I sat up, and timing her jump off the bed for when I stood up.
She then hung around around my ankles while I brushed my teeth and washed my face, and hovered around the loo door. Then she’d sit at her bowl or at the fridge, waiting for breakfast. Once Baubles was fed I would make a cup of tea. On mornings when I was exercising, she never failed to check out what I was doing after she’d had breakfast, and would give me a vaguely perturbed look: “what are you doing?”
By the time I was seated at the computer she would have finished breakfast and post-meal grooming, and would come for a pat and a brief cuddle, and then ask to be let out into the courtyard for her morning constitutional. She often sat right outside my window, looking at the willy wagtails (they loved to taunt her - I think they knew she was a little less than agile) and keeping an eye on me at the same time.
After that she would come back inside and ask for a drink of water. Thirst satisfied, she usually went back to bed to snuggle next to M.
I keep imagining that I see flashes of white from the corner of my eye - but no, it’s not Baubles, walking by. All last night I kept hearing her purr (she had the loudest purr). I miss her.
Baubles the Cat and M
