Taking the cat for a walk.

Our new cat is settling in nicely. He finally has a name that's stuck. Teasel. (See what I did there?)

He's quite a change from all the other cats we've had. And not just in his never-ending mission to eradicate Shifnal of mice and sparrows. He's a tiny cat, but his territory seems to extend the whole length of the lane to the Manor - about half a mile - and god knows how wide. In the past our cats have been very unadventurous, and we've actually had two who never ever left our garden.

Anyway, Teasel likes to follow me and Bobby when we go off on our walks. About 15 yards behind us, little bell jangling as he flits in and out of the hedgerow, with occasional sprints past me and up to Bobby. Bobby and I have had to take to sneaking out the house for our long daily walk as I just don't know how far he'd come with us.

So, he's started getting his own walk later in the day, which is very confusing for all the dog walkers and cars we encounter down the lane. Bobby, for his part, takes all this for granted. In fact it's the only part of Teasel's behaviour that seems normal to him.

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