I recently read an article in the newspaper, which said “don’t feel guilty if you haven’t achieved anything over the lockdown. That language you planned to learn; the book you intended to write; the home baking you talked about doing etc”.
Well Jules and I managed to do all of the above. How annoying of us, I hear you cry! After dinner we do 15 minutes of Portuguese, which is now starting to get a little hard but we keep trying. It’s never easy learning a language when you’re slightly more mature in years, but we’re determined. Such a beautiful country to visit and in February we went to Porto and had big plans to visit more regularly. But then lockdown hit, so we can only dream of returning one day.
Next the baking, I can’t say it’s gone well most of the time but we’re giving it a go. Jules is not a natural cook (she’d be the first to admit it), so I tend to do most of the cooking. But every week she gets the recipe book out and we try something. The scones were half the size and a bit hard, but I eat them anyhow with a big smile on my face. The banana loaf didn’t rise, but was nice with butter and finally the apple crumble cake popped out of the oven and was a triumph. For someone who gave up home economics (as we called it in those days) for metal work, I think Jules did pretty well. You should see what she can make with a blow torch!
So the final thing……..a book. Well yes I did it. I’ve always talked about writing a book and what better time than during lock-down. I’ve written over 50,000 words (approx.. 200 pages) and I couldn’t be happier. The book is called “Telling Tails – The Adventures of a Cat Sitter” and details all the amazing things that have happened to me with the business – there are so many funny stories. All names have been changed to protect the innocent, so current customers please don’t worry. This is all against the backdrop of my own experiences with cats throughout my life including Posh, Snowy, Michelle, Blackie, Bob and our beloved Becks, who recently moved on.
There’s so much to the book, that it’s certainly worthy of another blog – so watch this space. The big editing job is now going on and Jules will be next in line to read through everything. Then it’s trying to get an agent and knocking on doors – never giving up.
In the meantime, I’m hoping that as we come out of lockdown that I get to see all of my favourite furry faces again soon!