Am I the only one who is actually liking lock-down? I was thinking this the other day as myself, the kids and the cats have gotten into quite a nice little routine during the weekdays. I get up, get freshened up for work, don the official work outfit (the t-shirt, leggings and furry onesie with one scrunchy tying back my hair), and casually sneak downstairs so as to not disturb the kids. On entering the kitchen it’s the non rush of switching on the kettle for tea, and while the water’s boiling, prepare the cat food and let in the kitty family. In their case, I especially have noticed how they spend more time inside than outside, unless it’s a sunny winter day. And it was on one of these days that I wondered, “what are we going to do when lock-down is over?”

I have especially felt this after the satisfaction of setting up the office area, upstairs. I don’t actually want to return to the stresses of the daily school run, then driving at break-neck speed down side roads so as to avoid the rush hour traffic and end up at work just in time so that I can leave work at the end of the day and avoid the rush hour commute home. The only thing that my son misses about school is playtime, while my daughter is a self-confessed anti-social. For myself I have discovered that I get more exhausted mingling with individuals than I do corresponding with them face to face and so it is going to be quite an adjustment for me when we return to having to spend time in an office.

So when that time actually comes, it’s the cats who I feel will also be hit hard by this next change and especially now that I accept that I am officially a cat mum.

Coco, is showing her age now and she spends a lot of her time fast asleep in her ‘penthouse bed’ – a cardboard box filled with an old towel which envelopes around her when she settles in to sleep. Alternatively, when she gets the opportunity she bullies one of the kids – her victims – into giving way and allowing her to curl up on their lap to sleep there. It’s quite amusing to watch how the pecking order of this household means that as far as this cat is concerned, my kids do not have a say as to whether she can sit on their lap or not.

I do wonder sometimes how she will react when she is back to spending most of the work day outside until our return and in her old age I am considering the logistics of returning her back to being a house cat similar to how she was when she was a kitten and which, she vehemently hated .

As mentioned in an earlier blog post, the other resident kitty has been a real eye opener with all of us being at home. Vinny has always been the spoilt one – the one who was pampered but like his mum, he hated being indoors. We always thought that he would pass his day enjoying the rays, explore the nearby park and sunbathing on a neighbour’s garden furniture much to their consternation. But in actual fact he is a bit of an old mafia gangster type of cat, menacingly patrolling his territory and making sure that the younger Toms in the neighbourhood paid homage to him. We all witnessed an example of this a couple of weeks ago when we saw him walk slowly towards a new young Tom cat. The cat, and us humans thought he was approaching to have a chat about whether the cat had seen the sights yet, how cold the weather was and to give him the heads up about which times of the day to avoid the dog owned gardens but no! The old gangster walked up to the cat and without warning attacked. The poor young Tom cat was fine but so traumatised that he now literally sprints out of the garden if he hears our kitchen door open. After the incident, Vinny calmly returned inside and demanded we offer him belly rubs and lots of love. Every other cat that I have owned would have postulated in such an animated way so as to make it clear that their intention is to scare away any trespassers but Vinny’s mantra was clearly, “intercept and annihilate”.

So yeah, I do wonder about how both animals will react when our country, ends lockdown and opens up to such a degree as to have the kids return to school and I return to work.

I sincerely hope it is not too soon.