Thursday 30 October 2008

On learning Spanish...

Something's happened to my Spanish. It's like it's had a growth spurt and gotten quite good Maybe a week in London speaking only English and Urdu benefitted my Spanish too! I had Spanish class this morning and managed to say quite a lot and explain quite a lot in Spanish so that was good. And last week I conducted an impromptu meeting in Spanish and actually did okay. We had French to fall back on but when I tried speaking in French, I kept mixing it up with Spanish or having my brain freeze when I was searching for an expression in French so we stuck to Spanish.

My Spanish studying can only be described as haphazard. I've studied properly since July and before that I'd sit down from time to time and study myself. Even with lessons twice a week, I haven't got into a good routine of learning all the vocabulary from each lesson and doing all the homework - apart from half an hour before the class. A lot has happened in the last few months so at times it can be difficult finding the time but feeling that I'd made progress in the last week or so has spurred me on to be more disciplined with the language studying. I know I don't want to be like one of those foreigners who can barely say three words in Spanish although they've lived here for five years. Anyway, I speak Japanese so I have no excuse for not being able to get my head round a new language. It does seem to require a bit more effort now though, maybe my brain cells are getting a little bit old....

When I was at Low Life, I realised that there were Spanish-speaking people at the party and I could understand them. I feel like I can listen in to other people's conversations now, it can be a useful trick to have!

Wednesday 29 October 2008

From London to Ibiza.....

Written yesterday - on the flight from London to Ibiza (with Bruce Parry from "Tribe" sat in the aisle along from me - he's also an island resident).

On the plane back to Ibiza. The trip to London was fantastic and being away from the island for a few days helped me to put into perspective just how much has happened since I moved to the island.

The first trip to London was an emotional rollercoaster. Stressful family encounters coupled with great excitement about seeing friends again. This trip has been far more relaxed and easy, although equally hectic. After spending the first day with family and getting the family time in, I was able to go and see friends and do work-related stuff without any guilt. The one thing about coming back to London is that I generally could do with a holiday after as so much gets packed into a few days!

Seeing close friends and filling them in on Ibiza-developments helped me realise just how much I have achieved in less than nine months. Talking to Didier and Laure, Didier confided that before I left for the island, he was concerned about whether I would find anything truly challenging to do there. I can understand things from his perspective - when people asked me if I knew what I was going to do or if I knew anyone or if I had any contacts for work leads, the answer was always no. I was just going to go and see what happened. I can see why this caused concern for those I was leaving behind to venture off alone. It was less a case of my ability, more a case of whether something for me actually existed there. I was going from a capital city to a small island known for its nightlife - was the challenge there and would I find it? After talking we all realised that yes, I have found something work-wise that is two steps up from what I've done before in an area that I truly love. The challenge is there and I've managed to find it!

Being away for a few days I can appreciate just how much has been accomplished. It's still difficult though when you're living it day in, day out and you know the ups and downs you've been through. One of the things that I find amazing is that my friend Wilding the novelist has gone through a similar process to me with writing his first book. Just after the meditation course in April, we'd been chatting via email and he said that his writing the book was the leap of faith for him that moving to Ibiza was for me. I didn't get it at the time, I sat there thinking "but why is writing a book a leap of faith for you, you're such a brilliant writer?" I thought it was just a question of finding the time to do it.

When we met for a drink in July (just after he'd got a publisher for his book), he told me about stages he went through with the book, three-quarters of the way through but not sure if he could do any more. It was a similar emotion to me questioning day in, day out whether I could make that move work, whether it was something I wanted to do. It was like you hit the bottom chasing a dream and you're left wondering "if this doesn't work or I can't do it, what do I do?"

I confided in him about a particular moment when I felt intensely alone. Wilding being Wilding immediately made fun of me but he was sensitive enough to know that he wasn't stepping over the mark, he made me laugh with his comments. Things are going well with his book deal and we follow each others progress closely, we appear to experience similar emotions going through the process. In some ways, I get more excited about the developments in his life than I do in my own. It's not a case of not being excited about what's happening to me, of course I am. But when you live it, it's sometimes difficult to get your head around what's actually happening, it's just your life and you're living it. I know many people who are high achievers, doing really well in whatever they do but he's probably the only person I know who took a total risk in writing the book, doing something he'd wanted to do ever since he was a boy. You realise that very few people chase their dreams, even work out what their dreams are.

Sunday 26 October 2008

Not much sleep.....

Since gettting back to London on Wednesday night, I've been averaging about 4 hours sleep a night. The excitement of being here and generally being on top form means that adrenaline surges through my body - and is waking me up at 5 in the morning, regardless of what time I went to bed.

This morning was worse. I got to bed at around 7 after Low Life and then woke up again at 9, unable to get back to sleep again. That's why I'm up early on a Sunday morning blogging away on 2 hours sleep. I know this is going to catch up with me at some point - I just hope that it happens when I'm on the plane back to Ibiza!

Do you read my blog?

I saw my lovely friend Emily last night at Low Life and she said that she follows my blog. It was great hearing her feedback, it was very positive, she said she found it very inspiring. About a month back in Ibiza, I'd bumped into another friend Ben who said he'd come and visit KSAR. When I asked him how he knew about the shop, he said "I read your blog. You're doing what I dream of doing" - he also said that I was very honest in my writing. I guess I am honest and fairly open but if I'm going through a wobble, I'll elude to it but not go into too much detail until I'm through the other side. I'm like that in real life too so some things never change....

This made me realise that I've got secret blog readers. If you do read my blog, can you send me an email to azrazakir@mac.com to let me know what you think! Thanks - Azra

Low Life

I went to the Low Life Halloween party last night and it was ace! But I'm not so sure about the going to bed at 7 and then waking up again at 9 bit. At some point in the next few days, I'm going to crash and burn!

Low Life is an ace party in London that I went to religiously for 5 years. They'd usually be on at Valentines and Halloween and sometimes a summer party and a new years eve party the last couple of years. There's always a theme and we'd be encouraged to dress up appropriately - I have had some fairly risque outfits at Low Life over the years.

After I'd booked the flights to London for Kymani and Elias's birthday, I realised that Low Life woud be the same weekend so I could go to that too. It was fantastic - and it is something I miss living in Ibiza. It has a loyal regular crowd so you'd go to Low Life knowing that you'd always see certain friends. You may never see them anywhere else but always at Low Life. I've made lots of friends at Low Life, just as I made lots of friends through the Basement Jaxx parties in Brixton.

As soon as I arrived, I had lots of people asking about Ibiza and how things were going. It's funny but I got asked by some people who I hadn't even told so curious to know how they knew, through the grapevine I guess.

It was good to be back at Low Life and see so many of my Low Life friends. Ruby and Jenna came too (with respective other halves) and I think they loved it too! It was brilliant mixing my Ibiza life with my London life - without them at the party, it would have just been slotting back into my London life but this added another quality to it.

As always, the music was ace, the vibe friendly and the crowd up for a great time. It was bigger than usual, normally there are around 500 people there but last night there were more in the region of 800. With such a great response for tickets, they increased the venue size and therefore capacity. It was very busy but great!

I saw friends I hadn't seen in years. Including Colin and Duncan, good friends of my ex Will. When Will and I went our separate ways, I wanted to stay in touch with Colin and Duncan as they are such lovely boys. But I thought it woudl be awkward so left it. Seeing them again last night gave me the realisation that perhaps now the time is right to pick up the friendship again.

I had planned to leave at around 2. I ended up staying til the bitter end (as always), dancing around in new shoes with high heels, feet aching but refusing to sit down or stop! Mind you, when the party finished, I couldn't walk but luckily had some flat shoes to change into so I wasn't too crippled.

A truly fabulous night! Low Life - I love you!

Friday 24 October 2008

Two lives

As well as being a fantastic book by Vikram Seth, the title of this post refers to how I'm feeling on this trip back to London. Something I noticed as soon as I arrived (well by the time I got to Liverpool Street) was that it felt like I'd never left, I slipped straight into being back in London. It feels as if I have two lives now, one in Ibiza and one in London - I've got a foot in each and I move between the two and know that I belong in both.

It's a feeling that's already known to me. Having grown up with two very different cultures - British and Pakistani, in recent years I've felt that I belong to two cultures, once again a foot in each and the ability to move between the two in a fairly seamless fashion. I think it's good to be able to do this, your world becomes richer by having two vastly different things in it and I think you appreciate both things more. Feeling that I belong in both Ibiza and London can only be a good thing. To me, it means I do have a life there, a life that contains some of the most important things for me. I'm still connected to my life in London but not tied to it. I may have left London but my life is still here for me. Moving to Ibiza has already made my life richer. I've made friends who live in London but the friendships were formed in Ibiza - maybe our paths wouldn't have crossed in London, we'd never have become friends.

I'll probably come back and post more as it's an interesting theme for me. But now I've got to get ready for a full day ahead!

Thursday 23 October 2008

Back in London again!

I'm back in London for Kymani and Elias's first birthday, feeling extremely excited about being here and all the people I'll be seeing and the things I'll be doing. I was in a fabulous mood at work yesterday. Quite a few people came into KSAR and my sparkly mood was on full display. I put it all down to excitement of London. On my way to the airport, I thought back to how I'd been feeling when I'd been going to the airport 3 months earlier, on my last trip back. It really is amazing how things can change in the space of a few months.

When I came back in July, my time running up to it in Ibiza had been difficult. I'd been struggling with intense bouts of homesickness, wondering if the move I'd made was worth making if all the people I loved and cared about were somewhere else. You sit there trying to make sense of what you're feeling, how to deal with it, what to do. Nothing concrete had fallen into place with work either which added to the feeling of "is this really what I'm meant to be doing?". I was equally excited then about coming back but it felt different, very different. I was unsure about my future, knowing I had to make a decision about whether to stay in Ibiza or not. I was aching to see my friends, maybe to remind myself that I do have the ability to find the most amazing friendships wherever I may be! Three months ago, my friendship with Ruby and Jenna was still in fledgling stage - three months down the line, my best friends from Ibiza are two of the people I'm most excited about seeing!

Things fell into place with Alberto and work once I returned to the island. It's gone on from there in leaps and bounds, so much so that this trip back includes a couple of work meetings. Now that I know what I'm doing, I can focus my attention on doing that to the best of my ability. Work is proving to be the challenge that I need, that I thrive on and Alberto is an absolute joy to work with. Once again, I know I've lucked out in a major fashion here - after working with Richard Spring at the British Ukrainian Society last year, I didn't think I'd find someone I enjoyed working with so much, so quickly - the stakes had been set quite high. But in Alberto I do find that. Although he's very different to Richard in many ways, there are still similarities that explain why we work well together.

After a couple of decades of working with some truly inspiring, remarkable individuals, I've come to realise that I work best with people who share a similar work ethic to me, display the same drive and determination and an expectation of exceedingly high standards. Our backgrounds may be completely different and we may move in very different social circles, but having the same work ethic means we work fantastically well together. This has been proved to be the case in most of the consulting work I've done. I always seem to find myself working with fully paid-up members of the Conservative party and I can reel off a list of highly inspiring individuals who have placed enormous faith and belief in me - yet our political views are vastly different. It doesn't matter, there's a job to do and we get on and do it as brilliantly as we can. In the world of work, it really is about how the person works, not their political/religious/social preferences (although there are certain qualities that I'd find impossible to work with, even if we shared the same work ethic).

I've also just moved into a large, light-filled 2-bedroom flat above KSAR. I've never lived in a space that feels so big on my own. At present it's a mess as I moved in late on Monday, packed for London on Tuesday night and then flew last night so no time to get things straightened. But at least I'm out of the shoebox and into somewhere that will feel more like a home. It also meanst that friends can come and stay and there's a spare room for them.

Right, I've got to go and call Kymani and Elias to wish them a happy birthday and see if I can go and see them today to give them a birthday kiss and hug. When they were born a year ago, I was in Ibiza on a recce. When the text came through that Claud and Matt had two beautiful little boys (and this is long before I was asked to be one of the godmothers), I was so excited that in my excitement I ended up kissing my phone with the text on it. I'm sure it looked a bizarre sight, girl sat in bar with friends, gets text on phone, jumps around in excitement and starts kissing the phone! At least this year I'll get to cover them in kisses in person!

Saturday 11 October 2008

Dangerous driving.....

I was driving to the swimming pool in San Antonio this morning when I came across a familiar site - a car turned upside down in a ditch. This was the second one I'd seen this week and is a regular occurence on the island. It prompted me to jot down this post, something I'd been meaning to do for a while now.

It's a bit dangerous driving over here and accidents are a common thing. I know two people who've been involved in very serious car accidents in the last 4 months. They were both lucky not to lose their lives and as I write, one is still unable to walk, the doctors don't know if he ever will but thankfullly he's been making good progress (and hopefully will prove the doctors wrong). The road to Cala Carbo is a particularly treacherous one, a mountain road with lots of sharp bends and turns and a dizzying drop on one side. As soon as it rains, it turns the road into a skating rink yet still people drive too fast and the accidents are numerous. I know of someone else who was a passenger in a car going along this road. A bend was misjudged and the car went down the banks - he's only just come out of a coma.

When I first arrived, I took to driving too fast, particularly along my favourite road that connects Santa Agnes to San Mateau. One night I was driving home and nearly went skidding going round a corner. I slowed down after that. But it's so easy to drive fast here. Often the roads are empty, there aren't any speed cameras and you end up going a lot faster than you suspected. Now I pootle along at a sensible pace, unperturbed by the line of traffic building up behind me.

Driving at night is also a tiring business. There aren't any street lamps so you're negotiating the sharp windy roads in pitch black. This darkness has its benefits - I love seeing the sky flooded with stars - but it makes driving more difficult. You have to keep an eye out for the pot holes that can be found in many country roads. And then there are all the beasts you have to try and avoid. In my time here, I've come across the following strolling along the road that I'm driving on - packs of dogs, cats, lots of sheep, bunny rabbits, hedgehogs, mice, rats and chickens. Actually very few beasts stroll along the roads, most hurtle or skittle around, panicking at the sound of a car. Plus there are inevitably lots of lost souls if you drive anywhere near a club in the early hours....

I think my most amusing driving encounter happened a few weeks ago when I was coming home from Space. It must have been around half three and I took the Es Cubells road back. This is a quiet road, not many people or cars pass it so when I saw a group of people frantically waving me down, I slowed down and stopped. I thought perhaps they'd had an accident and on that road, you're not likely to see any passing traffic so it was my duty as a good citizen to stop and help them out. They peered into the van, looked at me and said "are you the drug dealer?". To which I replied no. Apparently they'd just arrived on the island, were trying to sort out supplies but the dealer hadn't been able to find their villa so they'd all gone onto the road en-masse to flag him down. They were in good spirits though and got excited when they saw the glow-stick around my neck, glowing in the dark. I don't normally drive around with glow sticks but it had been a present from either Harry Sprout or Tayo and I'd put it around my neck and then forgotten about it. Which meant that I drove all the way home, with a faint pink light emanating from the van......

Thursday 9 October 2008

Some 8s

8 (ocho) in Spanish is a good number, it stands for luck and eternity. As yesterday was the 8th October and I arrived in Ibiza on the 8th February, it was my 8 months anniversary. I celebrated by pondering about my time here so far....

So, I think by general standards I'm doing pretty well! Bearing in mind I turned up here not knowing anyone, without work and not speaking the language, I've been pretty fortunate. It's not entirely true that I didn't know anyone here. A very old friend James has been on the island for about 5 years and although we had very little contact for about 16 years (something to do with going out and him breaking my heart), we'd resumed contact over the last few years. But if truth be told, our friendship tended to be wobbly - it was very hot and cold from his part. I'd never know if he'd act like I was his best friend or someone he barely knew. After a few weeks of this (and some very strange behaviour on his part), I decided to ditch him as a friend because he was pretty useless as friends go and I thought I'd be better off without him. Other island-residents I'd met when I was here last year also tended to be a bit flakey so I scrubbed my slate clean and started afresh!

This meant I pretty much started off my time here without any friends. That was really hard for me, as I've always been surrounded by lovely people. Even when I moved away to America and France, I made some very special friends very quickly. I struggled with missing my friends back in London and there was a time that I wasn't sure I wanted to do this. My time here seems to fall into quarters and the second quarter was tough. During this time, I'd met some lovely people like Ruby and Jenna but it takes time for acquaintances to become friends. Plus I tend to be more reserved when I'm feeling wobbly (a bit like a hermit hiding in a cave really). I think the fact that nothing concrete seemed to be happening on the work front didn't help matters much. If I'd been mad-busy, I'd have had less time to think about how much I was missing my friends and my old life in London. I think the one thing that kept me focussed and sane at this time was the kittens - they made their appearance at the end of the first quarter and Simba and Tykey were with me until the end of the second quarter. 

This was when I left for London and once back, made the decision that yes, I wanted to live in Ibiza but needed to touch base with friends a little more to stop me from missing everyone. Once this decision was made, it was just a case of getting back to the island and securing work that would keep me here. Some people will do anything to live on the island but I've never felt it like that. For me to stay, I'd need to feel that I was still moving forwards in what I was doing, that I was still using my previous experience in whatever I did here. I didn't know if that possibility existed but at least I had some idea as to what I was looking for. 

Once back, everything happened all at once. Dealing with the death of Simba and Tyke, moving house, being offered full-time work with Alberto. It feels like my life has changed completely in those two months, ever since I got back. I've gone back to living with luxuries like electricity and hot water and no longer need to troop off to the swimming pool to shower and use my hair dryer. Although my lovely friends Ruby and Jenna have gone back to London, I know that I made some great friends here and in some ways I felt more connected with them than I did with other friends who were here visiting. Maybe it's just that when people come on holiday, they're in holiday-mode and I'm in work-mode and the two worlds just don't seem to mix too well. It's something I'd like to make work better next year. 

Work has turned out to be the challenge that I need. Alberto asked me to run the shop KSAR and I accepted. It's full of the most beautiful treasures but it's never been busy since it opened last November. There aren't any systems in place so everything is unorganised and chaotic and just not working as well as it could! So it's up to me to make it work. I've got to put much-needed systems in place and raise the profile of the shop across the island to get it busy. I've seen people's reactions when they come in and see the collections - no other shop on the island has the same things we do and everything is truly beautiful - we just need to spread the word far and wide. It feels a bit like the Society when I was running that, it was up to me to pull everything together and push it forwards to make it succeed. I've had moments of panic where I've thought "I don't know if I can do this, I don't know if I can make it succeed" but that's pretty normal for me. I remember when I first started at the Society, having moments of panic in the early days, wondering if I could do what was required - and that all turned out okay in the end. 

In addition to the shop, I'm also Director of Sales and Marketing for their boutique hotel in Marrakech, the Ryad Dyor and may be involved with the boutique hotel they've got opening in Bali in a few months. The Ryad Dyor is a little bit like the shop, breathtakingly beautiful but just not as busy as it should be. Having looked at the competiton, our riad is a world apart because of the unique stylishness of Alberto and Yvonne but once again, we need to do all we can to raise the profile of the riad and get it full all year round! This role means regular trips to Marrakech, with the first one planned for November and I can't wait!

The role also means that I have to establish contact with agents that look after boutique luxury hotels and once again, I find myself doing one of the things I do best - going outside, meeting people to work with, building a rapport and using this to help us get to where we want to get to. It was one of the things I enjoyed the most about the Society and I'm pretty happy to find it here too. Finally, Alberto and Yvonne are a joy to work with. Amazingly creative with an eye for style that I've never seen before. The way they put things together is really inspiring, at times I find myself wondering if I'll ever be as good as them but even if I don't have quite the eye they do, I know that I'm bringing other much-needed skills to make the whole thing work. 

In a nutshell, where work is concerned, I think I may have found something that gives me as much as the Society did and that's really something. Yvonne I don't see so often but I work closely with Alberto and he is as much a joy to work with as Richard was at the Society. I think I'm very lucky in that I always seem to find amazing people to work with and once again, it seems to have happened! 

Now that work and home-life are more settled, I find myself looking to put a bit more order into areas of my life that got a bit chaotic. I've realised that I need to do regular exercise (my daily swimming had disappeared over the summer) and eat well. Without these two things, I find myself getting grumpy, particularly if I'm sat in front of the computer all day. I've embarked on a new regime that I'm easing myself gently into - it involves swimming three times a week, going running, cycling (when I've got a cycle) and getting back into my ashtanga yoga practice. I went from doing ashtanga two or three times a week in London to doing nothing here. I looked around for classes or teachers but didn't find anything. But I tried doing the primary series to a DVD and it was just like being in a class again, with the teacher guiding you through the series. So that's been earmarked as a regular thing to get in to!

I'm also going to make a bit more effort with my Spanish classes. When I was studying by myself, the course made you learn vocabulary and continually test yourself until you knew all the words. I'd be learning about a 100 new words each week. Now, although I go to classes twice a week, I'm not making the effort to learn the words in the same way and it's starting to get on my nerves. I'm finishing chapters in the book but if you asked me anything about a past chapter, I'd struggle to remember anything. So, more effort on the Spanish front! I have actually made progress in the time I've been here and can understand quite a lot. But inevitably I get frustrated if I don't feel I'm doing as well as I should be and so time to change that.

So, eight months in, things are going well, really well. I'm over my bout of homesickness and busy and settled in my life, challenged by the work I'm doing. I've made friends and have lots of new people to hang out and forge friendships with over the winter months. I haven't met my future husband yet which is a shame as it would be pretty cool for that to happen but there seems to be so much going on in my life at the moment, that perhaps the timing is just not quite right!

Tuesday 7 October 2008

HRH Prince Baggy of Santa Agnes







Regular readers of my blog will know that I used to post about the cats and kittens a lot. After the death of Simba and Tykey and moving house, I haven't written anything about the rest of the family, Little Red and Baggy but they remain in my thoughts as they're pretty special cats.

I thought it time for Baggy to get his own post as he is quite a character and deserves the mention eventhough he's still living in Santa Agnes and I'm here in Cala Carbo.

When I arrived at the house, Little Red and Baggy (they're siblings) were about 6 months old. They still didn't have names, didn't really belong to the house but were fed there with the other 3 cats. I soon gave them names and got to know them a little better. Little Red was always a friendly little thing but Baggy (short for Bagherra, the black panther in The Jungle Book) was a really paranoid, jumpy kitten that you couldn't get anywhere near. It was impossible to touch him or stroke him, if you got to close, he'd have this panicked look and go hurtling off. Sometimes I'd walk into my bedroom and see Little Red curled up on the corner of the bed, with Baggy curled up next to her. The minute he saw me, he'd leap up in fright and hurtle off, usually skidding on the tiled floor. The closest I ever got to him was one time when I was in bed reading. Red had come into the room, jumped up on the bed and was snoozing on my lap. Baggy saw this, probably decided that it looked comfortable and joined him. So he sat on my lap for a while but at no point could I move or attempt to touch him. In some ways he reminded me of my nephew Adam, they have a similar highly-strung sort of personality and these little fangs that stick out a little.

One time when I was sat on the porch, he came close enough and hung around for long enough that I could stroke him. That lasted about 3 seconds before he took a swipe at me and skittled off. But those 3 seconds were enough to tell him that being stroked is a very nice thing and perhaps he'd like more of it. Little Red wandered over to where I was sat and purred for a bit of attention so I started stroking her. The next thing I knew, Baggy had come up and shouldered her out of the way and taken up her place so he got stroked instead. It was a comical moment and the point where Baggy and I really started to become friends.

After that moment, he was up for some loving whenever he could get it. If he saw any of the other cats getting any attention, he'd be straight over wanting some himself. He was still a bit skitty and nervous, prone to swipe so I refrained from picking him up or putting him on my lap. But one time when I was sat reading, he jumped up onto my lap and sat there being stroked. Then he started climbing closer and closer to my face until his cheek was right up against my cheek and he stayed there for ages. This became one of his favourite positions and if he ever came and sat on my lap, inevitably he'd be snuggling right up against my cheek. He'd come running over whenever he heard me arriving back home and then climb into the van through the open window. Once the kittens were born and got most of my attention, this was really the only time that he'd get some cuddling from me and he used to make the most of the opportunity.

Once the kittens were born, all the other cats kept well away from them and Little Red. Apart from Baggy. I don't know if it was a family thing as he was their uncle or if he was just after some extra food but he was always trying to get into their room. I was a bit nervous at first as I remember some Pakistani rumour about tom cats (and he still had his bits at this point) eating kittens and I didn't want to find out if it was true or not. So we kept him out of the room although he'd try and sneak in whenever he could. A few days after he was neutered, I walked into the kittens room to find him all snuggled up with Little Red and the kittens (see photo). It really was a heart-warming sight. Even when she got up and left, he stayed there looking after the babies and giving them a good clean - amazing!

Baggy never had a miaow until the kittens were born. Or maybe he had a miaow but never used it. Once they were here and were a little bit older, he'd miaow to call them - I soon got to know all the different cats and their miaows. He used to hunt for them, depositing mice and lizards in their room. Once Fluffy, Lady and Splodge had gone to their new homes and just Simba and Tyke were left, the four of them (Little Red, Baggy, Simba and Tyke) moved around like a little family unit. They'd all come on sunset walks with me and hurtle around the ploughed fields like crazy things. Simba and Baggy were particularly good friends and would often disappear together.

I don't think I've ever known a cat like Baggy. He's a funny little thing, he'd never miaow for food but would come after you for attention or a cuddle. He's completely greedy though and would gobble up anything that was going, I affectionately called him the hoover. He struck me as a cat who just really wanted to be loved. In all the photos above, he's with at least another cat, rarely did you find him on his own. He was a wild thing when we met but with love and patience, he became one of the most affectionate cats I've ever come across.

From time to time, I think of Little Red and Baggy. After the kittens died, the two of them would sneak into my bedroom each night and sleep at the end of my bed. I wanted to bring them with me but wasn't sure that it would be possible in the new place. I may be moving into a bigger flat just above the shop. If I'm allowed to have some pets here, I've decided that "Operation Cat-Nap' will be conducted. Basically this will involve going back to the house and secretly taking Little Red and Baggy. I know I should really tell Bea but I have no desire to have any contact with her. Plus she'd probably be happy if there were 2 less cats at the house. Stay tuned for updates on the mission - if it happens it won't be until January as I'm going to be travelling a lot over the next few months but once I'm back for at least a month, then it'll be time!