A change in the weather
With the world in the midst of a new reality, Sara Bunny muses on feline foibles and the joy of great neighbours.
Covid companion One small upside to the strange state we’re in was the surge in SPCA adoptions before the country closed into lockdown. The organisation put the call out to animal lovers, offered half-price adoption fees and shifted more than 800 cats and dogs off to their new forever homes just in time for isolation. My partner and I were among the crowds at Masterton SPCA right before the level 4 alert, and we left with a small black and white fluffball that has been our little Covid companion ever since.
After a few days spent hiding under the bed in the spare room, the monochrome moggy set about making the place her own. Like all new pet parents, we were soon in that happy bubble of squeaky toys and cat biscuits turning up in bizarre places, but it hasn’t all been smooth sailing in the toilet department.
The couch corner was the first casualty. Next, we woke one morning to a fresh, fragrant and steamy cat poo on my favourite cushion. The kitty has good taste. Out of the line up at her disposal, she had picked the cushion with a map of London Tube lines, which I had bought in a wave of intense excitement on my first trip to Blighty. I had proudly blown my last few pounds on the overpriced square of material, and carted it around for the next two months squashed down between crumpled tickets and anti-diarrhoea pills at the bottom of my grubby backpack.
The beloved cushion was largely unscathed from Sloane Square to Bethnal Green. But Greenwich Borough and Cutty Sark Station were caked. It hung on the washing line with an ominous stain for days, before the solemn decision was made to retire it to the rubbish bin. Like any further trips to London in the foreseeable future, that ship has now sailed.
Love thy neighbours (at a distance) With the world feeling increasingly surreal, one of the best things about the Wairarapa is the sense of community. Not in a curtain-twitchy, ‘why are the people next door removing that wisteria tree’ sense, but in a meaningful, practical way.
When it comes to neighbours, we sure struck it lucky. Pre-isolation we came home to find a box of fresh veggies on the front step, straight from our neighbour’s garden. A week or so later, they popped over with a jar of delicious fresh honey from their backyard hives.
Right now we’re all keeping our distance, but there’s a definite sense that we’re all riding this rough and unprecedented wave together. Our other neighbour down the road has even offered to give us some of his gin supply should the coronavirus crisis really bite. We may have missed out on hand sanitiser and facemasks, but community spirit like this will really help to see us through.
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