.... random rants and rambles. no agenda. yet.

This morning I was just starting work when Harrythecat walked into the office and jumped onto the windowsill. I thought nothing of it, until he decided to stick his head out of the open window. Our office is on the first floor, so that wasn't a good idea. It was even worse when he climbed out of the window and walked along the ledge, ignoring me completely as I screamed

"nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

... and then he jumped down onto the lower roof (there's a bit that sticks out underneath the window), and was stuck.

Someone please remind me why we have cats?

Of course, this meant that I spent almost an hour rushing around the house trying to save him, and wondering why he had chosen to do that TODAY, when C isn't in, so I was stuck on my own having to be a solo hero. I didn't want to be a hero. I just wanted to work.

So anyway, I tried climbing up the ladder outside, but it was too short to reach the lower roof and I couldn't see anything when I was standing on it, so I went back indoors and kind of hung out of the window instead. I tried shutting the window. I tried opening the other window in the room next door. I tried shaking his food and his special favourite chicken and cheese treats. I even tried different voices, from the calm, confident "you can do it!" to the persuasive "good boy, come on!" to the downright panicked "please come up off the ledge, PLEASE!" Of course, none of that worked.

After a while, I realised that even if he wanted to stop miaowing in distress and try to save himself, Harrythecat would find it very difficult to jump back up on the ledge, because the angle of the roof meant that he might well double backwards and fall off the roof. Great.

OK, so; brainwave time. I dangled a towel out of the window for him to climb up, kind of like how people dangle sheets out of windows in burning buildings and use them to climb down, but the other way round. Did that work? No. I tried using the washing basket lid as a ladder, which of course didn't work either. Then I got the real ladder and dragged it upstairs and managed to steer it out of the window and prop it up on the lower roof so that he could simply walk up it and back into the office and have his breakfast and everything would be fine again.

Did that work? NO!

Instead, Harrythecat stared at the ladder as if it was something very strange and terrifying and he would never, ever be walking along it, no way on earth. Then, he steeled himself and kind of jumped a couple of times at a really awkward angle, which had me closing my eyes and saying "noooooooooooooooooooo!" to myself silently. Then, when I opened them again, all I could see was the end of a tail, poking out of the window of the room next door. Oh yes. He had jumped in, through the OTHER window, ALL BY HIMSELF.

And then Harrythecat went downstairs and ate a massive breakfast, with me sitting on the stairs watching him and remembering why we have a cat.