It appears that the world is divided between dog and cat people – those who like their friends to do what they’re told and to agree with them – and those who prefer to admire their friends for being true to their nature and avoid sycophants. I fall into the latter category since most of my friends are quite blunt and a bit odd. You can’t tell a cat what to do – you have to invite it and hope that it agrees.
Cats make lounging about into a Zen discipline. When you catch their eye sometimes you wonder if there’s a lot more to a cat than outward appearances. I can understand why the ancient Egyptians venerated them.. they seem to see things you can barely imagine.. but they have no interest in letting us into the secret – rather, they look on us with vague pity for being so dim. I’ve sometimes wondered if cats socially engineered humans just to look after them…
Anyway… we had two cats here: Fritz and Tommy. Fritz was gregarious and pushy, slightly aggressive but very sociable. He was as cute as a baby but sometimes you’d catch a dark look in his eye that told you he was considered the terror of the streets. Tommy on the other hand is a total pussy: flinching, nervous, wary of danger, but always up for a cuddle and a tickle under the chin. My kids utterly doted on them both.
One day in March Fritz just got up off the sofa and walked out of the back door and was never seen again. I miss him terribly since he always felt like ‘my cat’. Whenever I’m cycling about Bristol I keep one eye out for him but alas, I’ve never seen him since. it gets quite unbearable sometimes since there’s a big gap in our home where he used to be, although Tommy is happier since Fritzy used to do a Cato and jump on him 
when he was least expecting it, literally leaving tufts of fur floating in the air. He could be quite savage when the mood took him. When I was working he used to wedge himself behind me on the computer chair and just purr like a train engine. I live in hope that Fritz will saunter in through the back door and meow at me again… but I’m starting to wonder if I will ever see him again. Oh Fritz… come back!!!!
Well, when I have something on my mind it inevitably comes out in my drawings… and I seem to have drawn a lot of cats lately. But I love cats… and it’s a subject that can’t be exhausted. I look at cats and wonder…
