First things first, this Saturday sees the Moelwyn Race taking place from Blaenau Ffestiniog, despite those slippery descents (not my forte) it is one of my favourites although I frequently have to remind myself of that as my lungs gasp for Oxygen on the run out towards Moelwyn Mawr & my mind thinks of the further climbs thereafter. Despite this oxymoron it has been ever present in my calender since 2011. This year I feel under-prepared but at least I’m not making the mistake of tackling it 6 days after the Manchester marathon like I did last year. Well done to Gonks & his team for taking over the running of it this year, the weather looks like it will be kind, hope to see some of you there whether you run or simply want to cheer us on.
Based on that I’m hoping for a calmer start to this Saturday than last Saturday, have you heard?
Well in truth things started to go wrong around midday on Friday when my local roofer responded very quickly to a request to solve a leak. An hour after putting in the call the leak was fixed, the roofer paid, all was well. An hour or so later Dorina asked where’s the cat? I calmly responded, she’ll be fine just having a wander, these soothing words failed to calm the Angel.
Moving on, arriving at the cafe early Saturday the lights in the Gallery failed to come on, not being an Electrician I decided to fix it. I have survived 51 years partly because I have always respected electricity so quite why I decided to listen to some Romanian advice ‘Paul don’t re-secure the plug cover until you’ve tested the new fuse’, the plug went in, the unsecured cover slipped, I danced to an Electric tune & was soon in a shaken heap on the floor.
By now I was not feeling well so decided to bite the bullet, look for more trouble & picked up the phone to the roofer (Angel had already connected that a missing cat & the roofer might go together). Yes his wife said, he did see a cat jumping out of his truck, my heart rose (O.K. so he lives in the country, the cat will be close to his house, we have a chance) then she added he was in the middle of Tywyn 25 miles away at the time! My heart sank, the cat was lost, I put down the phone in an increased state of SHOCK.
An Angel was heard shouting ‘I told you we should have got her (aka Isabella) tagged!’
Think Paul, forget those electrocuted neurons, think!
Phoning the roofer’s mobile I soon knew the location of last seen, vets were called, social media notified, photo’s printed & an hour later I was setting of from Capel to Tywyn some 60 miles away, ooh what a lovely morning.
The search began just after 1:00pm, of course it was a needle in a Haystack but my thanks to a second hand bookshop keeper in Tywyn’s old Market Hall as well as an anonymous woman in a shop nearby, as well as a cafe & hairdresser’s opposite for their warm sympathy & help. Isabella is not a bad name to be continually shouting around a graveyard & other Tywyn hotspots but after half an hour my initial hopes of finding a cowering cat were ebbing away.
The anonymous woman again enquired & suggested I try the house leading North, not the first one (I’d already eyed it’s fierce dog). At the gate to the second a lady appeared at the window ‘are you looking for a cat’ (guess she’d heart my graveyard calls) ‘I saw a grey one on my lawn an hour ago’. I showed the photo, she had doubts, but we searched the garden, no cat but cat hairs on her fence, ‘try Sheila’s next door’.
Sheila, bless her, in her 70’s let a demented man walk through her house to her back garden without a care before a shout from her neighbour relieved the tension, ‘I’ve found her’. Two minutes later Isabella gave up her cowering between a fence & a shed & walked into my arms, could you write this stuff….
Back in the car tears came as I put the call into Angel & a cheer resonated through the Cafe’s kitchen. The drive home was the first time Isabella has ever purred whilst in a cat box in a car, if only this could be repeated when we take her to the vet to be tagged!
My reward for all this has been a tad clingy Isabella & better still Angel!
Of course I apportion no blame to Kean, where does he come in you may ask, well the week before I’d said ‘kean I’ve got a leak’ to which he replied ‘sod your leak I’m off to Cornwall’, may our paths meet on the Moelwyn’s….
