Town Cat, Country Cat

I have just returned from visiting my sister. She lives a few hours away with her boyfriend and their cat in a pretty French town. She's quite a cook so I was certainly well fed during my stay and I particularly enjoyed the home-made cheesecake. But used to the pace of country life I am always struck by the differences between my home and hers. Instead of the hooting and tooting of owls, the steady hum of cars outside the window in all I hear at night and the street lights cast a constant yellow glow over everything.
In the same way life is also very different for her cat compared to mine back at home. Whereas my four legged companions roam the fields and forests, napping in the hedgerows and chasing butterflies, her cat lives indoors. She is the queen of that house, bossing her owners about as she steals the best seats in the house or demanding that they open the door that leads into the conservatory so she can tease the neighbour's dog through the window. She's a particularly stroppy madam if I'm honest, and she's not keen on visitors who enter her realm. I sometimes wonder if she would enjoy a visit to the country, to roam freely outdoors with grass beneath her feet and not a car in sight but perhaps in reality the vast openness would scare her. I know for a fact that in reverse my own cats would not like to live in a world with gates and boundaries.
By the end of my short stay I was ready to head home and as soon as the car pulled onto the gravel drive my cat Debbie appeared, greeting me back, and not far behind her was Roux. I always enjoy a trip away but in my heart I know that, like my cats, I belong in the country too.

Catherine Walker is the author of The True Story of a Not So Crazy Cat Lady available now in paperback and eBook!