Hi everyone
My apologies for sending out another Mewsletter so soon after Sam and Ollie’s sterling efforts but in their haste to get it done – and battling for supremacy on the keyboard – they omitted a couple of vital pieces of information.
Also – call it big paw syndrome if you will – but the date was wrong on the previous Mewsletter; it should have read 29th March, not April. And while I’m apologising, I have to say I was mortified that they accidentally let the test Mewsletter go out to everyone instead of just themselves. So you may well feel as if you’re being bombarded by Mewsletters – and I’m sorry because that isn’t usually my style.
First off, though, the numbers in the poll have increased so thank you to all of you who have registered your cats’ ages. There are now 4 in the 20 + group and I will be writing again to ask you to make yourselves known to me so that I can ascertain the eldest cat and then interview it and its owners.
Secondly a lot of you have let me know that the email link Pauline@dailymews.com on the competition pages isn’t working. I’m sorry about that; I’ve left a message with my tech guy but as it’s Easter weekend I doubt he’ll get to it until Tuesday. So I’ve put the usual p.dewberry@ntlworld.com link there for now. So if you do want to enter either competition please use that link instead.
There is still time to enter both quizzes and the poll because the next update on the website won’t be until towards the end of April as I’m doing jury service from 9th. I’m very nervous about this as the court is next to the notorious Belmarsh Prison, where some very naughty people have been ‘sent down’. (See, all those years of watching Law and Order have been invaluable – I know the terminology off pat!!! Book him, Danno, Murder One!!!!)
I did mention to Sam and Ollie before they obligingly took over Mewsletter duties that there are a couple of events coming up that subscribers might be interested in knowing about. It must have slipped their minds because this is the reason for THIS extra Mewsletter – which is why it’s called Mewsletter 101 ½.
RADIO STAR!!!
This afternoon I will be ‘appearing’ on Willi Whizkas’ Mum’s radio programme to talk about the Daily Mews and the Mewsers. You can listen to Carol Lake on www.staffordradio.com from 4 – 6 pm. Yours truly – and probably Sam and Ollie will try to muscle in on the act – will be interviewed from about 4.15 onwards.
Carol’s shows are always interesting and the choice of music is always great. You’ll enjoy it so please log on if you’re able and enjoy her show. As I said before in a previous Mewsletter – my mother always said I have a face for radio!!
NATIONAL PET MONTH
National Pet Month runs from 1st April to 6th May. The aim of the event is to promote responsible pet ownership, make people aware of the benefits of keeping pets, and increase public awareness of services available from professionals who work with animals, value and contribution to society of working companion animals. To find out what’s on in your area or how to get involved, go to www.nationalpetmonth.org.uk or telephone 0208 370 3688.
AMAZING CATS
Leny, in Holland, wrote to ask me if I’d heard about Anakin, a two-legged cat. I thought I’d already told you about him – but I’ve search back through the last couple of Mewsletters and cannot find any reference to him. Anakin was born with no pelvis or back legs but for all that, he seems a very healthy laid back cat. See link:
http://anakintwoleggedcat.blogspot.co.uk
On this link you can read a newspaper report and watch a couple of cute videos about Anakin:
Then in the cat magazine I get each month – Your Cat – there was piece about ANOTHER two-legged cat. Although Persian Caffrey did start off life with the requisite number of legs, he was unfortunate enough to lose two along the way at different times. What amazes me is that Caffrey has lost both legs on the same side so only has his front right paw and back right paw – yet he runs and copes very well.
I sort of have an image in my head of a table with only two legs on one side – it would fall over wouldn’t it? But apparently Caffrey copes remarkably well and at the age of 13 he barely twitches a whisker at his lack of limbs.
You all remember Casper, don’t you? The cat that would board a bus outside his home in Plymouth, Devon, (UK) and travel on a 14 mile round trip every day before sauntering back home – well, a film is being made about him. Taken from the book his owner Susan Finden wrote, Whitechapel Films are now in the process of turning the book into a film.
Rather than make an animated film, they are going to tell the story with a real cat and they are looking for a Casper look-alike who will sit on a bus and not be too scared of being filmed.
If you think your cat fits the bill, send a photo to mark@whitechapelfilms.co.uk.
Then there is Sam – the cat with ‘eyebrows’. Sam is a white cat with two black markings where eyebrows would probably be giving him a slightly worried look:
As Sam and Ollie told you in their Mewsletter, I am busy reworking the manuscript of Ollie’s Diaries which I hope to get published eventually. I still haven’t quite finished my book on my journey of living with leukaemia but I felt Ollie’s Diaries were more pressing. I’ll be including some of his, and the other Mewsers’ adventures and hopefully it will catch a publisher’s eye and be snapped up.
I hope this ‘inbetween’ Mewsletter will help lighten your day until the next issue arrives in your inboxes. My thanks to those who complied with Sam and Ollie’s request to ‘stroke’ me – I certainly purred with pleasure at those who did write to offer appreciative strokes.
In the meantime, enjoy this blessed time of year – remember the Great Cat loves you (thanks Jimmy) and have a very happy Easter.
Love
Pauline – editor-in-chief
Sam – hearing impaired chief assistant to the editor-in-chief
Ollie – chief assistant to the chief assistant to the editor-in-chief
xxx
A Cats Prayer
Lead me down all the right paths,
Keep me from fleas, bees, and baths.
Let me in should it storm,
Keep me safe, fed, and warm.