Joan- 1988-2008

Well it had to come...I suppose,but being so worried about a couple of golden brainless chickens throughout the day,I almost did not notice that life (as it has a habit of doing) had thrown me another curve ball. At tea time, almost without thinking I dished out Joan's sachet of "senior" felix and was suddenly aware that the old girl was no where to be seen. Strangely I knew instantly what had happened and minutes later Chris found her disorientated and poorly under the bed in the spare room.
I couldn't face that final journey to the vets, it seemed as though it was only yesterday that I had to accompany Fin back and forth to the vets and animal hospital, so Chirs wrapped her in a blanket and took her up to Caerwys for the last time.
After 20 years of noisy demanding yowling, affectionate behaviours. a minor head injury after being sideswiped by an 80 year women driving a fiat panda on Providence Road in1992, four house moves, and a sudden lease of country life in the definite twilight of her life, Joan has always been a constant in the last two decades of my life.
Unlike dogs, who scream for the limelight, Joan remained firmly (but not uncomplainingly) in the side wings, and I will miss that irritating supporting role that she always played. The ginger and white despot that followed you on the dog walks at night, who took 4 weeks figuring out just how to use the cat flap, and who was ecstatically grateful for the briefest of strokes as the terriers pushed her by was as important to us as breathing in the tiny world that was Wynyard Road and is Bwthyn-y-llan.

We buried her in the allotment, in more or less the exact spot where this recent picture was taken .I must say that she never took a better photograph
When Finlay died I remember writing on the blog that I had lost my boy.
Well Today,........ we had lost our grand old girl.