Why I love ...... my cat.

My mother sent me this cutting from The Guardian. When I say cutting I mean just that, the piece cut from the paper! Not for her the wonders of email, her preference is snail mail. Normally my father attends to the technology in their household but he is currently away enjoying his annual weeks holiday with his friends, no doubt doing their damnedest to emulate 'Men Behaving Badly' despite the advancing years! :o)

So here it....and very amusing it is too:

Why I love ...... my cat.

There are the obvious reasons of course: the delicate marmalade-coloured fur on his feet and belly, the utter reliability of his cupboard love, the joy he gave me once when he caused my mild wife to say "Get down you buggering little sod" as he trotted across the fish lasagne she had just prepared.
But the main reason is his endearing stupidity. Some cats are clever, and one owner I know claims that her favourite has not only worked out how to open the fridge to get at her food, but has also declined to teach this trick to the other cats in the house.

However, my cat is stupid. He exhibits this best in the rain. He pushes his way through the catflap at the back of the house, gets his nose wet, and returns immediately. But now his eyes plead with me to open the front door - on the grounds that, although it is raining out the back, it may be dry at the front.

What is especially attractive about this is that there is no development. Almost without exception, children become more intelligent, almost day by day, and if you watch them, you can see this happen. I have even noticed myself becoming cleverer, and now, at the age of nearly 60, I have almost thrown off adolescent habits of moral certainty and political priggishness.

But my cat never learns. He insists on sitting on the mat where the door might slam on him, and on challenging the same old bruiser of a female four doors down, who duffs him up every time, leaving him cut and scabby.

I admire this determination not to develop, and reflect how simple it makes his life. Those of us who try to do a little better every day, and who break our hearts in failing, could learn a lot from him.

Fred Sedgwick
© The Guardian 2004