I have always been a panderer to others' needs. When my daughter Kirsten was little, Barbies were her thing in a big way. When the manufacturers brought out a trio of gorgeous Barbie Mermaids I was quickly informed that they were a "must have" item so promptly went out and bought the pink & purple dolls but that third Barbie decided that she would elude me for as long as possible. This simply was not acceptable in a little girl's eyes and my nemesis was finally tracked down and purchased in a small toy shop in Norwich. The look on Kirsten's face when she had the complete set was priceless and that made it all worthwhile; I just like to make people happy.
This rule also applies to my cats (strange that, eh?). Back in 1989, when Kevan and I got out first flat together my new kitchen was perfectly colour coordinated with red accessories which included a large flat-topped bin. At the time, the lid had no significance but once Frodo and then Basil joined our family it became evident that the bin now had dual purpose - both as a receptacle for rubbish and as a platform for little furry bottoms. Basil had worked out that sitting on the bin gave a much-improved view of items on the worktops. At the same time this clever little cat taught himself to beg (yes, beg!) when he wanted something and sitting on the bin, begging at the front door was his way of letting me know he wanted to go out. Clever eh? In 1994, when we moved to Kingston Road I committed a carnal sin - I bought a new bin! This proved uneventful until we took on Spike. Spike is a sweetheart but not, how can I put this nicely, the sharpest knife in the drawer. The bin I had purchased..... was a swing lid version and on jumping onto the top, Spike promptly fell straight in! After much scrabbling & hysteria, he got out again but I now knew this model was not practical for us & had to go out and get another flat lid one.
And this brings me on to my most recent "pandering" purchase - a laundry basket. Two of our boys, Jacob and Oscar, do not get on. Jake was here first but is a neurotic black half-siamese boy who would not say boo to a goose. Oscar on the other hand is a robust confident ginger lad with the heaviest foot fall I have ever heard; you will always hear Oscar before you see him. The tension between these two makes life difficult at home sometimes and Jake retreats to the bathroom where he sits on the laundry basket. Over the years the basket has had a lot of use and it had become rickety so I look the lid off, forgetting that Jake liked to hide there. Yesterday I made it my mission to purchase a new one. My two criteria points were one, it needed to fit into the small corner of our bathroom near the sink and two, it must have a good lid for Jake to sit on. Luckily the first shop that I went into had a great selection and a lovely bamboo curved basket left the shop with me. As I got into the car, I had a thought. "That lid looks rather hard for a cat to sleep on" so I suddenly found myself in the shop next door looking through their pet beds. One giraffe-skin patterned bed later I rushed home with my goodies and took them into the bathroom. The bin fit perfectly and after laying the bed on the top, I watched a certain black cat's reaction. He got straight onto the top, turning around & around as he acclimatised himself then he turned and looked at me with his eyes slanted and appeared to be almost smiling. At this point a loud purring noise ensued and I knew he was happy.
All the money in the world could not pay for these precious moments (though on this occasion £24.98 did!!).
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