Omar's Diary to 12th December 2022

Beau

"Beau" took up residence here at Omar Towers in October (See Omar's Diary to 31st October 2022) and I am very pleased to report that she has settled in well.

She is still very timid but over the last two weeks the Servants and I have noticed that she is venturing away from the security of her room more often. It must take quite a lot of getting used to living indoors after having lived on a very busy farm where horses, servants and heavy farm equipment were constantly moving around.

My relationship with her has progressed so well that we now share a bedroom. Separate beds of course. Also, I am especially pleased with her joining us as when she arrived she was allocated en suite facilities which, with the onset of almost arctic weather recently, I am now making full use of.

After all, us Tonkinese felines were bred specifically for servants who live in apartments in the cities of North America such as Toronto and New York.

Off to the medical center

Until early November the weather had been unseasonably mild. So mild that we would see the occasional bumble bee, some roses would sprout fresh blooms and canopies on the trees were still green. It certainly didn't feel right but everyone enjoyed it while it lasted. During this mild period and as Beau had been with us for less than a month I did not feel it was appropriate to use her en suite. For the maintenance and propriety I continued to venture outdoors when necessary

The downside to this bucolic climate was that those pesky little things called fleas and ticks were still active. One of them must have bitten me while I was checking the estate. I developed a severe topical irritation over most of my body. The only way I could deal with this was to engage in violent scratching and constant washing but this only made things worse. That was until I was taken to my private medical center. There I was injected with steroids and had a flea and tick repellent applied to the back of my neck. Relief from the irritation came after two days and since then I have been much more comfortable.

Hopefully the fleas that decided to make my life a misery also suffer from even smaller fleas while those smaller fleas are sufferingly infested and "Hath even smaller fleas to bite'em, And so proceed ad infinitum" (Jonathon Swift 1667-1745).

The ultimate degradation in this whole process was being lured into the Servants' bathroom, cuddled and fussed then totally wrong pawed when they sprayed me with a medicated dry shampoo. My revenge for this gross maltreatment was to make what could best be described as "carpet coleslaw" for Man Servant to clear up after my primal retching woke him up in the early hours.

Lady Servant always sleeps on oblivious of the commotion I have created.

Christmas

Up until 1st December the word "Christmas" is banned from Omar Towers. The reasons for this are too horrific so for the more sensitive of you I will spare you the details.

On 1st December the Servants and I watched "Love Actually" and that was, if you like the official start of Christmas.

Why oh why couldn't the servants in this country have a Prime Minister like the one in this movie? I am certain that Larry, the Downing Street feline, would have been very happy with him.

Since then decorations have been retrieved from the loft and various cupboards around the house. Small decorations adorn the sitting room and as they were strategically placed the Servants would reflect on their provenance.

My favorite decoration is the tree in the baronial hall. It is adorned with baubles of all sorts and again as they were attached to the tree there were brief conversations about their provenance. In among the baubles are the characters from the Nativity. Some farm animals, an angel, three wise men, Joseph, the baby and my favorite, Mary.

"Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree. How I will set your baubles free" becomes my Yuletide mantra. But my favorite activity at this time of year and usually at three in the morning is knocking off the Virgin Mary.

The noise is guaranteed to wake Man Servant up and bring him downstairs looking bedraggled and bog eyed. I wonder who Beau will knock off when she becomes more confident?