Day 5 - 140611

When I got home from work I couldn't find Ralph anywhere. I spent half an hour systemattically checking under every item of furniture and in any space large enough to fit a small kitten. Nothing. After about half an hour, I started to panic... had I left a door open somewhere? Or a window? Maybe he had found some discrete hole in a wall I knew nothing about and escaped? The flat is not particularly big, so once I'd exhausted all the possible hidey-holes I pretty much convinced myself I'd lost him... terror started to sink in, my blood ran cold. Where could he be? Ok Adam, calm down... make a brew and sit quietly, maybe he'll reappear. I set about preparing a cuppa, went to the fridge for milk, looked down at the floor and what do I see? Inside the mop bucket, beneath the mop, I see a large green eye peeping up at me... Yes that's right, he was in the mop bucket underneath the mop and he was most disconcerted that he had been discovered! I turned to add the milk to my coffee, turned back to pop it back in the fridge... and he'd gone. Phantom cat strikes again.

Ralphy has an uncanny ability to covertly move around the flat with gay abandon, without being seen - it's quite a skill really. Mostly all I see is the last 2 inches of his tail as he slinks under something, or occasionally I may spy an ear peeking out from round a corner, or possibly a whisker poking out from somewhere. A streak and a blur, he's like a ninja cat... not like the famous youtube ninja cat who deserves a special mention, but he could be ninja cat's apprentice. Also, he does a very good Puss-in-Boots 'sad-eyes' whenever you find him!
     

That was the last I saw of him for most of the night - he was around but being particularly stealthy. By about 10pm I had finally decided he was not going to make an appearance, and was considering calling it a night and going to bed, when phantom cat made a curtain call... literally. Now, I have a rather large bay window in the living room which is about 10 feet wide, and the flat faces onto quite a busy road (Stockport Road in Marple). Razzle suddenly bounded up onto the window sill, bold as brass, and started meaowing at the cars outside. Next he ran from one side of the window to the other, apparently chasing a car. When he reached the other side of the window, he proceeded to chase a car from the opposite direction back to the other side of the window, then again, and again, and again, and again etc... Like some sort of crazy little banshee, chirruping every time he reached the edge. He was having a great time, and it was very entertaining, if a little nutty - it would seem he is fascinated by cars. That lasted a whole 10 minutes then he vanished once again, like a thief in the night. Gone... He still doesn't dig me.