Bonkers

Doing a repeat house sit works well for everyone: the house owner isn't stressed about leaving their beloved pet and home in the hands of a stranger, and we don't spend the first week coaxing the pet to like us, opening every cupboard in the kitchen every time we need a teaspoon, or pondering how the latest iteration of 'smart' dishwasher works.

There are down sides of course. Sometimes the sits are shorter than we'd prefer, and sometimes they clash with sits we're already doing, necessitating a divide and conquer philosophy.  Which is how I came to spend four days hanging out with Bonkers Cat while Roger, poor soul, dealt with the swanky-suburb swimming pool all by himself.  

Poor old thing.

Bonkers lived up to his name and exhibited the phenomenon known as 'sundowning' when seen in people with dementia. Every afternoon at 3pm his bonker-ometer went off the scale and he waged war on toes, blankets, cardboard boxes, and hair ties. He lurked beside the door on the chance that fairies would open it and let him out. He poured himself into nooks and crannies and attempted to excavate his way to China, which he was sure lay just under the seat cushions of the lovely leather couch. 

His bonkers finale involved wild gravity-defying leaps onto the TV and ignominious plunges into his water bowl. And then at 8pm he ran out of bonkers, shook himself, and started looking for a nice lap on which to snuggle.

 

Me bonkers? Never!

What with all the moving in and Bonkers-watching and moving out again I didn't get to ride my bike much which sadly left me just short of 2400km, or an average of 200km/month for the year.

 

With one day left, that last 134km just wasn't going to happen.

To add to the sadness, Vic Rail got way too enthusiastic about doing railway works over the holidays and substituted buses for trains left, right, and centre. I suspect I've become a public transport snob because I immediately lost all motivation to ride the entire Myki network, seeing as buses just didn't have the same appeal as trains. I couldn't take my bike on the buses either, so I freely blamed Vic Rail for forcing me to ride in circles which was nowhere near as fun as riding whichever way the wind blew and then catching a train home.

Cobwebs was delighted to have me home, having strained her relationship with Roger somewhat by spending the nights out in the back yard barking for me. 

So glad you're back!

I was glad to be back too. I really like that heated swimming pool.