This is one of our favorite houses from the early days of our marriage. The house was built in the 1930s and it was originally a bank. There was a smaller house abutted to the back and just out of sight to the right was the bank manager’s house. There was a little railroad boom at this time and this tiny village, nay hamlet, benefited hugely with a bank, hotel, shop (it was still called the emporium). The rail line was still there but had been cut in the early 60s – so shortsighted. If they had only known the oil boom was coming to Aberdeen.
It is hard for you to envisage but it was a taller than average house – the two floors were almost equivalent to three on a normal house as you can see from the cottage behind. The attic was unbelievable – you could have had parties up there. We had three of our first batch of cats then, Pippy, Muffy and Puss. Pippy was exquisite but she was a little monster at times. See my post, Pippy was a Welsh cat…
Both the kitchen to the left of the conservatory and our bedroom above were vaults for the bank and the walls were incredibly thick with big windowsills for the cats to laze on. You can see that we had to repair the wall as the original renovators had not installed a strong enough lintel for the kitchen window. The window in the bedroom opened from the middle – probably for safety as it was a straight drop to concrete below.
I kept hearing Pippy crying but couldn’t figure out where she was. Eventually, I tracked it down to our bedroom but she was nowhere to be seen. Finally, I looked out the window and the little minx had jumped from our window to the neighbor’s rooftop and was now trying to jump back which was almost certainly doomed to failure. I knew there were no ladders big enough or fire station for miles. I ran next door to our lovely new neighbors. He was training to become a Pastor after years of working for Oxfam (a non-profit charity) in Africa.
He and the children ran to help me and I have no idea how I did it but I stood on the windowsill, stretched my body across to the rooftop while the neighbor was hanging onto my legs for dear life. Amazingly, I grabbed my bad cat and brought her in through the window. It felt like one of those scenarios where mothers lift cars off their children. Pippy was fine, the window closed and the adults were shaking. The children thought it was the biggest adventure EVER!
When Teddy came home from work that night he was horrified by all the possibilities of what could have gone wrong, not helped by his fear of heights. I could write a book about all the naughty things Pippy got up to. This photo shows her either playing or terrorizing my original cat, Tibby, who lived with my mum. I still have that original rocking chair which belonged to beloved Nana. It has since been covered in exquisite silk but now has a blue Walmart blanket on it because the current demons cats that we live with…
which wee hamlet? x
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Auchnagatt. k x
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You’re a natural born storyteller. Loved reading every line!
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It was all absolutely true – but thank you!
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It’s the way you tell it Kerry.. Some ppl can try and tell of the greatest adventure and make ppl snooze.. Other’s like you, can tell how you watched nails rust and have ppl totally entertained 😄
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Dam cats! (As Vinny shakes his head!)
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Vinny’s right…
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Great post Kerry, interesting and with some drama. That damn Pippy! 🙂
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I am sure she has shortened my life… 🙂
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Oh dear, I hope not! 🙂
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🙂
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Oh that Pippy sounds like my Sascha. The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde syndrome
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…and yet we can’t resist them.
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Yes they have a way to worm themselves into your heart the buggers.
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Now I know you are British or colonial. I was going to describe her as a little bugger but wasn’t sure how well it would go down with the American audience! 🙂
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I’m Canadian. I don’t think anybody at least the people I know wouldn’t take offense to that word. I think that word loses its meaning over a period of time.
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When I was a child, I thought my name was ‘that little bugger’… 🙂
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Ha ha ha mine should’ve been.
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Pippy would be my favorite cat 😂 Never boring..
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That’s for sure!
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Scary! What we do for our animals!!!
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I do have a legitimate diagnosis, in my defense… 🙂
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Of course your Honour M’Lud…
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LOL!
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😉
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Adrenelin is such an under-rated hormone! It gives super-powers and super-ideas and when they work the endings are inevitably happy. Of course, the adrenelin your Teddy felt was probably rather less productive! Bad cat but great story 🙂
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Thank you Osyth! Haven’t heard from you for a while, everything okay?
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I’ve been travelling and as soon as I got back there were issues from England (daughters) which are now resolved but had me running around like a fool! x
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Ah well, welcome back and glad they are resolved.
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Great read!
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Thank you and all true!
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My heart was almost in my throat when you talked about how your neighbor held onto your legs while you leaned out the window to grab Pippy. I hope you gave the cat a stern talking to once you rescued her.
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I don’t know how many stern talking’s to she had over the years. She was like the world’s worst teenager!
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She sounds like a little terror I saved. Her name was Serenity and she was anything but. She was a feral kitten that a co-worker of mine found at the airport. She was so darn cute I took her to the vets and then brought her home. The only person who could get near her was my youngest son because she would attack me and my other two sons. I tried giving her away to a friend of mine who ended up giving her back because she wanted a cat that was affectionate and Serenity was always hiding.
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The death defying duo ! 😮
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LOL!
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Both these cats look gorgeous! – Cezane
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Thank you!
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