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The family returned and my zen like state of calm and balance was largely shattered, but nice to know I will be able to return to transcendental bliss in about 15 to 20 years.
There was a bit of drama around their return as just before I set off to pick them up I realised that the cats hadn't eaten their breakfast and that I hadn't seen them round the house all day. Usually they are prowling at 6am wanting food but they didn't turn up, but I assumed they were out killing birds and didn't think too much about it. They'd turn up. I assumed they had and I was out most of the morning, so it was a bit of a shock to see the food untouched at 3pm.
That was definitely unusual and they weren't coming when called and as much as I like the cats enough to not wish death on them, I was more worried that Catie would be cross with me for not looking after the cats properly. Which would be annoying because I'd done a bang up job. This was the first morning that I hadn't waited for them to turn up to ensure that Tabby didn't eat all Chocolate's food as well as his own.
I picked up the family at Stevenage, after a bit of confusion as to which entrance I would be at, which didn't make the atmosphere any less frosty. Catie had been informed about the missing cats and was of course worried, but also doubtless planning the five years of punishment she would be meting out for my slackness.
We got home and searched the house and garden, but there was nowhere they could realistically be. My only hope was that they were both missing and it was unlikely that they had both come to harm, so my guess was they'd got locked up somewhere by mistake or by someone trying to make a horrible coat out of cat skin.
We could hear a faint mewing coming from next door's garden and I feared that the cat making that noise was lying injured, but hoped that the cats had just managed to get themselves locked in next door's garage. Catie went over to look and managed to locate the cats, who had indeed spent the night trapped in the building, though Chocolate was so traumatised that she carried on hiding even as Catie opened the door and called for her and shook her treats.
I was off the hook. The cats had survived 10 days with me as their master.
The kids were glad to be home and I think even Phoebe had missed me a little bit, though she maintained her cool detachment whilst allowing and maybe even welcoming a hug. They both seemed more confident and grown up and taller than they were five days ago. They had survived the Fringe. They were stronger than I.
As we'd managed to do Fringe podcasts without incurring the usual Edinburgh costs we decided to put in a tiny fraction of what we'd spent on accommodation to help one act pay a tiny fraction of their own accommodation costs. Good luck to all the nominees. Hopefully the award will become known as the RHLSTPy.
Full guest list now sorted for Canterbury in February next year. Joining Jim and Nancy will be another comedian/artist (also ex-soldier and fabulous stand up), Nick Wilty.
Full line-ups and links here. Still too early to work out how sales are going - Birmingham is selling fast, Liverpool a bit slower than expected, but will people be leaving it to the last minute or not? Chorley, Leeds, Bristol and Newcastle closest to selling out.
