When I wrote it, Scoop was still alive. Reading it brings back the day I wrote this piece.
I was sitting in the living room, having a coffee, yawning after being woken up several times during the night, and wondering what to do next, when I saw Au rolling about on the sofa, and settling on his back, eyes half open. I snapped a shot and was chuffed to have it to illustrate the column.
Then I went and had a cuddle with Scoop in order to get the words right in my head before writing them down. He purred up a storm as usual and shed brown fluff all over me as a special favour.
Scoop passed away just over a week ago, and although I'm not crying every time someone mentions his name anymore, we're still missing him every hour of every day.
I miss his loud MEOW! announcing he was back from a walk. I miss the way he'd hog the centre of the bed, and stick a claw in me if I had the temerity to move in a way that inconvenienced him.
Thanks everyone for the kind messages. And I really hope there is a Rainbow Bridge heaven for cats!