20 - 22 June - Ready, set, go (or not)

20 June

We'll be leaving tomorrow morning for our next cat sit so, as always, today is devoted to cleaning and packing. The house and garden are so lovely, and little Psipsina the cat is as sweet as can be. It was such a pleasure to be here. Bobbie, our hostess, arrived from her holiday and we had a lovely dinner and catch-up. It's always so great when you make a connection with someone you're cat sitting for. How nice to have a lovely new friend!

21 June

Got up and finished packing and enjoyed some last-minute time in the garden. Psipsina the cat let us know that she couldn't care less that we were leaving.

Bobbie drove us to the train station, we said our goodbyes and found our platform. At the last minute they changed the platform and we rushed to the tiny train. There were only 2 cars, but there were 4 cars worth of people, so we stood for the entire 45 minute journey.

We saw that our next train was going to be 15 minutes late so we found a seat and shared a Cornish pasty. Then we saw our train was going to be 20 minutes late. We went to the track and heard an announcement that the train would depart at 2:00, which made it 45 minutes late. We had a 40 minute window for our next connection, so that wasn't going to work and it threw off the train after that as well. It wouldn't bother me so much, but we're going to a new sit and I hate to put our new hosts out. Oh well, nothing we could do. We managed to get another train and I messaged our host, David, to let him know what was going on. He advised us to get off at a different station and he would pick us up there. That saved us over an hour. Yay! David was there on the platform to meet us - so sweet - and led us to the car for the trip to Rainhill. He drove us around town to point out restaurants and shops he recommended then we arrived at our new digs for the week. One the way in the house we met one of our charges, Fang, so named because she bites when she's upset. (Something to look forward to.) She quickly scooted under the car so I didn't get a welcome photo of her.

We settled in, met Paul, our other host, and then met Louis, our other charge. Louis is enormous! He's a Maine Coon and weighs about 22 pounds! He's lovely and very sweet and not terribly bright. Can't have everything.

As we were unpacking Fang jumped up on the bed. She was so sweet, rubbing against us and purring up a storm.

Hard to imagine she can be so vicious. We learned the rules, though. Only touch her head, never anywhere else on her body. Watch her body language. When she's had enough, stop! It was a successful encounter.

We had a great evening with David and Paul: G&Ts, fish & chip dinner then an evening of wonderful conversation.

22 June

Had a leisurely morning with David & Paul, sitting on the back deck in the sun. After breakfast, we walked into town to explore. On the way back to the house we stopped at the butcher shop where Bruce bought local sausages to try, and one that he hadn't found in Cardiff.

We bought some groceries then went home in time to say farewell to our hosts who were off to the airport and their holiday. After lunch we went back into town, hoping to have a quick bite at the local wine and tapas bar. At 2:30, there wasn't a seat to be had - absolutely packed with people enjoying the lovely day. Bruce started his pub crawl, I walked around town then took the bus to Prescot to have a look around. (Really not much to see.) I chatted with a man from the bus who offered suggestions of things to do in Liverpool. Feeling a bit knackered I went to the bus stop and waited while 3 scheduled buses didn't arrive. Finally one arrived, I went home and enjoyed a non-alcoholic G&T, which was suprisingly good. Our hosts have a massive collection of liquor and the non-alcoholic gin was apparently a buying error, but I enjoyed it. I made dinner, we watched some telly, then made it an early night. Miss Fang was waiting on the bed for us. We carefully slid into bed trying not to disturb her. She turned on the purr, rubbed against us demanded petting and reacted like a lady, no bites. She eventually settled down at the foot of the bed and I drifted off to sleep.