Thursday 20 March 2014

Meet Laddie

He is a 15 year old cat that started off life as a stray cat.  He was taken in by a man called Brian.  Brian took him in and has loved him ever since.  Brian loved Laddie a lot.  He would feed Laddie steak and he would eat lentils.  When he would bring Laddie in to our vet clinic, he would chew your ear off about how much this cat meant to him, how the cat was ‘his best mate’.

Brian died a few days ago and his niece brought Laddie in to us.  She said that Brian had told her that if anything happened to him, that we would do right by him and Laddie.  Which of course tore at our heart strings.  The niece was unfortunately unable to take Laddie back home with her and asked us to get Laddie fixed up and as ready for adoption as he could be, as she was going to have to surrender him to an animal shelter.

Whilst the animal shelter promised that they wouldn’t put Laddie to sleep, I don’t think they could 100% give their word.  It is a reality that Laddie isn’t the most rehomeable cat and it’s a sad fact of life that the space that they would give to Laddie could be given to at least two kittens who would be easily rehomed.  (Sidenote, please be responsible pet owners!!)

My boss tentatively asked if we wanted to keep him as a ‘clinic cat’.  It’s quite common practice for vet clinics to have a cat or two that just roams around.  I have been at my job for three years and pretty much those entire three years have been spent campaigning to have a clinic cat.  I nearly hugged my boss when he asked us that question!

Internet, this is Laddie.

He has lost one eye due to illness.  The other eye is very big and shows his fear.  He is very skinny.  He purrs when I stroke him but I can’t tell if it’s because he likes my touch or whether he is purring due to stress.  When you pat him, huge flakes of dry skin come to the surface of his coat, which is lank.  He is a very old man.  He walks with stiff back legs due to arthritis.  Realistically, he only has a year or two to go. 

And I want those last years to be so happy and filled with love.  Even though since working with animals, I have become jaded with the whole ‘animals know what we’re saying’ schtick- yesterday Laddie and I had a moment.   When I picked him up to give him a cuddle (which he sits through patiently), he fixed me with a stare with that one eye and he licked my nose.  I like to think he understands..

Thursday 6 March 2014

I’m basically a professional writer

A few weekends ago, I met up with Danielle to go to a workshop all about writing radio dramas.  We weren’t sure what to expect but we turned up eager and ready to learn. 

There were maybe 15 people there and we were the youngest by twenty years, if I’m being generous.  Thirty years, if I’m being honest.  Also, everyone already had a short piece that they wanted to workshop.  So I know that I definitely felt like I started off on the back foot.

I’d love to go indepth about the workshop because it was really great and I probably will at a later date.  Our favourite thing about it was that there were two actors who came along and would read snippets aloud.  It was amazing to see them perform.  There were bits that they read that looked so flat on the page that were absolutely transformed when you heard the actors speak aloud.  Also they were super cute and Danielle and I fell head over heels in love with them.  I fell particularly for Bob, who was just so rad.

IMG_0734

Picture from Danielle

After the Saturday session, Danielle and I went back to her place, slightly panicking because we didn’t have anything to show.  I still wasn’t sure what was going to happen at the Sunday session but we knew we didn’t want to go back without at least a first draft of a short radio play.

So we spent a frantic half hour writing our pieces.  Then Danielle wanted to introduce me to ‘Primeval’, which has now become my new obsession.  I think we watched about three episodes and then we worked on our pieces for another 15 minutes before realising that we should just quit and watch some more ‘Primeval’.

primeval_cast

Look how cute and British this cast is!!

The next day, we turn up and everyone has already printed out their pages for the actors to practice and read aloud- which we have not.  Again, we start off on the back foot.  So we eventually get out pieces printed off and we “hand them in”.

Lunch time comes around… and we decide to bail.  It’s been a long morning of listening to first drafts of plays and well, there’s Primeval to watch.  And I do need to leave fairly early because I have a long drive back.  So we make our apologies and leave.

Flash forward to the present day.  And last week, Danielle texts me to say that the organiser called her to ask for her permission for the actors to use her script that she wrote for their actors’ workshop!  So cool, right?!  Then a few days later, she texts me to say that they would like my details because they would like MY script too!!  Heheheheheh.  I basically fell over on the floor, half laughing at the ridiculousness, and half out of shock.

AND WE GOT INVITED TO THE SUNDAY PERFORMANCE OF THE ACTORS WORKSHOP SO WE MIGHT GET TO SEE OUR PLAYS PERFORMED!!!!!!!!!!!!

My piece centres on an old man.  I used Bob as my muse as he was just the best and I thought he would be awesome in the role.  AND THEN DANIELLE TOLD THE ORGANISER LADY THAT BOB WAS MY MUSE!  Apparently it took them a while to track me down because they assumed one of the older men who had attended the workshop had written it.  Nope, just that young girl in the corner. 

I just had a thought.  Maybe Bob will be at the actors’ workshop.  I will keep you updated.  CAN YOU IMAGINE IF I GOT A PICTURE WITH HIM?!