A Knife In The Catflap


Blogland seems to be all a bit tits up at the moment.
Tom Stephenson seems to have shot his last bolt. Ursula  is still monopolising my comment section to " debate" slights and injustices . Chloe is lurking like a bad smell around an old toilet and I'm rather nonplussed by it all.
I have been thinking about this so much so, that I think my blog entry of this morning is the most banal in Going Gently's history, a product of the sniping and upset me thinks
Thank goodness Rachel is back! Her little bit of normality - life of an  East Country artist ( and what she's having for tea) gives the community some much needed balance
I enjoy debate and banter as much as the next old queen.
I adore wisecracks ( Wanda you are the Maggie Smith of the one liner)
But I want to stress that my blog is not a forum for personal slights.

Ok ....end of lecture.

It's freezing and hailing this afternoon and I'm making bubble & Squeak .
The postman has just knocked on the lane window to pop with mail
" you have a knife stuck in your catflap!" He noticed
" I'm locking Albert in the cottage!" I told him
He went off without further clarification

Too many dirty paw prints to cope with! 





79 comments:

  1. So many people now days seem to be offended by the least thing.
    I do understand about paw prints! Stay warm and safe in that crazy sounding weather!

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  2. 'You have a knife stuck in your catflap' reminds me of Monty Python's 'dagger up the clitoris'.

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  3. It's getting so it's hard to know what is safe to write/say anymore. Just be yourself John and don't worry about it.
    I'm sure deep down inside Albert appreciates you keeping him in on a messy day.

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    Replies
    1. He's gone out through the bathroom window!

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    2. Yay, Albert! Don't let THE MAN keep you down! Let freedom ring!

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    3. Debra...he paces his territory constantly and is in and out of the ruddy catflap like a fiddlers elbow

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    4. Understand the need for the knife John, but Debra's comment made me laugh heartily. Let freedom ring fur sure. Excuse the bad pun.

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    5. Reading that he went made me laugh. Perhaps that is where the phrase "Cat Burglar" came from? Due to their deftness?
      MissFifi

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  4. Things have seemed a little dead around the blogworld over the past couple of months. I thought it was just the holidays, but that's all over and done and it hasn't picked back up.

    We'll see whether this particular post of yours gets anyone up in arms. It does seem controversial...

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    1. Controversial? Really?

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    2. Well, probably not, but I've seen some folks around here get riled up over less.

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    3. Ain't that the truth! At least I'm not posting about American gun laws that really set the cat amongst the pidgeons !

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    4. And there is not a post about cadet bone spurs the latest in a long list of names for our new orange king.

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  5. I thought it was a title for a Murder/Mystery - A Knife in the Catflap.

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  6. I guess it's better than a hitch in your giddy-up.

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  7. John, I just love that line "it's freezing and hailing this afternoon and I'm making bubble and squeak" - takes me right back to childhood days in Devon. This is what I love about your blog - memories we can share, and knowing British thoughts, villages, traditional foods, and happenings haven't changed much. . . . . . . . even the lousy winter weather!!!

    Keep on keeping on John - cottage life with you is always lovely.
    Sending blue skies and sunshine (cold though) from North Carolina x

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Mary. I've just taken your namesake to the dog groomers !

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  8. There I was thinking your clever cat had put it there!!!

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  9. Unfortunately my little dog has never grasped the workings of the cat flap, so my flap is permanently open, oh matron

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  10. Wow I thought for a moment "knife in the catflap" was the Trelawynd version of the horses head in the bed! x

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  11. Yes, this morning we found ourselves in a middle of a family argument. I'm thinking I will just go stick my head in the sand. Have a great Giselle.

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  12. You seem to have a rather innocuous blog. That it would cause rancor seems surprising.

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  13. What is it with Tom and Ursula? Are they secretly in love and using your blog as an S & M type dating agency?

    Not surprised you are heartily sick of it. LX

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    1. I'm so boring I thinK an M&S dating site is more appropriate

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    2. That made me laugh! You boring never... even if you do buy your Y-fronts in M & S.

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  14. I laughed at Albert going out the window. The ultimate escape artist. I enjoy your day to day blog it is always interesting and funny and I seem to have missed some goings on.

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  15. Anonymous4:41 pm

    I think Lettice could be 'spot on' First Going Gentle Wedding!! Thou,the marriage may be rocky with the Love/hate relationship. If they have another tiff I think it would at least be worth us booking a room so John can have a bit peace. ;)

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  16. Enjoy reading about your life in Wales, nothing like mine in the Desert !
    I enjoy reading about the furry pack and the animals by the way how are the little rosters doing minus one ?

    cheers, parsnip and mandibles

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    Replies
    1. They are mighty fine, I've just locked them up for the night

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  17. I've recently signed up to a Facebook link to our local town rhumour Control where people can ask things and get answers about all things local but it can get really personal !

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  18. Ruth Ellershaw5:51 pm

    Better a knife in the catflap, than a knife in the back! :-)

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  19. Get a floor mop....poor Albert. You take the dogs out in all weather, probably wipe their feet as well. But a little bit of mud and Albert is locked in. Forget having a go at US gun laws this is fighting talk.

    Aka Traveller

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  20. Knife stuck in the cat flap sounds like the title of a book I would read, a funny memoir. Now I hope the commenters play nice.

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  21. If one can't leave personal slights in the comments section of "Going Gently" where can we leave them?

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  22. Normally people would just get a little hook to latch the cat flap.
    You use a knife.
    This is why I come here.
    MissFifi

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  23. Preach, Brotha!

    p.s. Ursula is going to be pissed!

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    Replies
    1. I am happy for her to comment as long as personal,attacks are omitted

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  24. Why did I never think of the knife in the cat flap? Would the raccoons muscle on through that?

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  25. Yes, I am glad Rachel is back too. I enjoy her blog. I enjoy yours as well John. Poor Albert, cats are never happy with a door they can not go through.

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  26. The title of your post would make a rather goo title for a novel.
    As for carping and nastiness in blogland - thank goodness i have not experienced any - and I do hope I never do. Just settling into widowhood and helped (you will never know how much) by all my wonderful blog friends, I don't want any steps back.
    Would your banning Albert have anything to do with your new kitchen by chance?

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  27. A Knife in the Cat Flap... sounds terribly painful lol

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  28. My neighbour at the time once knocked on my door(also a postman)& said ''have you got a crack up your narrow bit?''I was unsure of what he meant.He did explain-he wondered if I had cracks on the partywall-it's a semi x

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  29. I don't know if I shared this here before but my mother had a cat flap in her door and once a skunk came in through it and found the cat food bowl! It was reluctant to leave... As you can imagine that wouldn't do and they couldn't just yell at it or chase it. They ended up making a trail of cat food back out the door... They blocked it off thereafter and the cats had to meow to be let out.

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    Replies
    1. We wondered why the floor was so messy around the cat bowl until the night I found two raccoons washing kibble and eating it. The end of the open door policy thereafter.

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  30. The balance I may appear to give involves a lot of heavy paddling beneath the surface and engaging coping mechanisms.

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  31. I looked after my neighbour's cats when he was away. When he came home I said proudly: I fed your 3 cats every day. He gave me strange look and said: But I've only got two.
    We deduced that the intruder had been following the other cats closely through his electronic cat flap which was opened from the outside by a chip on the cat.

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  32. Anonymous8:03 pm

    Murder most horrid!! What a Hairy Mary's...way to go.
    My cat was able to push the little sliding lock back to open the cat flap
    And sneak out...

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  33. A few of my bloglist seem to have fallen by the wayside in one way or another,or gone off in different directions...some to the dreaded fb..which has its uses,but you can't look back and read old stories....

    I just keep blogging along...and new people come out of the woodwork occasionally!

    Long may you keep writing xx

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  34. What kinds car goes out in the rain voluntarily? Albert must love his fresh air.

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  36. Good gravy, I am having trouble typing today.
    My comment was: What kind of car voluntarily goes out in the rain? Albert must love his fresh air!

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  37. Ursula has been haranguing me as well. I refused to indulge her and she has now threatened to boycott my blog. Nowt so queer as folk.

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  38. What do you mean, 'shot my last bolt', you twat? Do you not listen to anything?

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  39. The knife in the cat flap looks creepy! LOL

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    Replies
    1. That's why the postman said something

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  40. just another zany day in the little cottage...

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  41. Ha! I've just posted (after an impromptu break) about our new cat door! From the comments I've received back, I'm thinking cat doors are not all they're cracked up to be. I wonder if a knife in ours would detract the neighbourhood gang from using it! -Jenn

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  42. "Tom Stephenson seems to have shot his last bolt."

    That sounds vaguely dirty, which I'm just certain Tom appreciates. Haha!

    I miss you, Tom.

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  43. Get your frustration of people using your blog as their stage. If we all ignore the tiresome whiney dialogue they just might piddle off.. at least we can skirt around the diatribe while we enjoy accounts of life and happenings in your part of the world x

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  44. We love you and look forward to your posts.

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  45. We do not have a muddy paw print problem here. My cat has two cat flaps - one from outside into a garden room, one from there into a small lobby, then we open (or not) the door into the kitchen. (It's not a big house, just the arrangement tacked on behind the garage.) We put her out of the kitchen door at night, but it is then up to her how she spends her night, curled up on a heap of bedding on a chair, or outside. She seems perfectly happy with the arrangement.

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  46. Anonymous10:15 am

    I once had to use a spoon to jam my window shut in a hotel in Gaborone to keep the windows out. The air conditioner leaked onto the carpet which had rotted giving a nice organic smell to everything. I do not miss Africa on business at all.

    We are off to Bath today, he is I see someone who has shot their bolt will I be able to claim a prize?

    All the best

    Charles

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  47. Anonymous10:16 am

    Actually it was to keep the monkeys out....

    Charles

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  48. Our cat flap has got a lock on it, I can lock Ginger in or out .... as the whim moves me ;-)

    Somehow though little Charley, when she wanted to go and spend a penny .. the only time she used the cat flap ... could always just charge straight though it locked or not !!

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  49. My blog is not a forum, but I don't mind people talking to each other as long as they are polite about it. Having a go, sarcastic comments, bitching, is not allowed.

    I would sometimes like to lock my cat flap, there are a couple of neighbours cats who think it's alright to stroll in and pinch the food. But, Garcia has been coming for about ten years, they are all out at work so he spends his days here. There was no sign of him for three days and I was getting worried, where is he. Sigh of relief when he was waiting at the back door to be let in at 7.30am. He is going senile, scoffs two plates of food, but I don't mind.

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I love all comments Except abusive ones from arseholes