1 post tagged “animals”
I was catching up with my Mum over skype at the weekend and we ended up chatting about a holiday we had in Oxford way back when. I should clarify a couple of things. Firstly, I use the term 'catching up' loosely as we talk on the phone a few times a week (snatched calls from conference rooms), and exchange emails through out the day. When you couple that with twitter and blogging we pretty much have small talk covered, and there are times I feel that some people are hardwired into my brain. Secondly, the trigger for this tramp down memory lane was my paternal granny (Grannie Butterfly) mailing my Mum a thank you letter that her mother (my maternal granny - Granny Moth) had sent Grannie Butterfly in the late 80s.
So back in the mists of time before iPods or cell phones Mum, Granny Moth, my brother and myself headed down to Oxford to house sit for my paternal grandparents for a week or two, and take care of their cat Emmet. My brother and I didn't have pets growing up instead we ended up looking after our friend's cats, hamsters and tortoises when they went on vacation. This arrangement proved to priceless as we got a few weeks a year to play pet owner but without any of the responsibility, and the pets always stayed at their owners home so we didn't even have to make way for them in our home. I digress, I remember that the summer of the year I can't remember was hot and it was this climatic condition that led to our merry band having to spend an afternoon sitting on the roof of my grandparents extension.
When we got to Oxford we quickly discovered that the place was hooching with fleas. I believe that the piping hot temps had a part to play in the craziness of the flea situation that was engulfing the nation. The cat was immediately banished to the garden, and my Mum dispatched to the chemist to buy every bottle of flea powder she could get her paws on. Every inch of carpet was covered in a thick dusting of flea powder, and the house looked like Narnia had been seeping out of the wardrobe and infecting reality. Whilst the powder was doing its thing we were evacuated onto the roof of the ground floor extension with mugs of tea, sandwiches and reading material. I wish we had photos of us picnicking on the roof, and chilling out till the fumes subsided. Once the powder was vacuumed up all was well but that didn't stop my Granny Moth's inner shaman coming to the surface, and she got my brother and I to sleep with cloves of garlic in our beds.
Once the flea situation was squared away we had a lovely stay in Oxford even though it was not as rich in jumble sales as Peebles was.
