The power of words: a traumatized cat.
'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'
Pete Bernfeld
Mon 25 Jun 2012 06:52
Anyway, there I was pacing up and down, shouting and waving my arms. The cat attracted my attention, so I fed him. Obviously in misguided gratitude he thought he should listen to my ranting. I'm afraid he took it all a bit personally. I've never seen a cat with downcast eyes and a quivering lower lip before and I honestly think that if he could have done he would have gone down to the boat the fix the engines.
Anyway, walking down the hill in the rain this morning a taxi pulled up, Martin was in it. We were guardedly polite en-route to the yacht club, in fact I brought him a cup of coffee then when we were in relative privacy told him I had received his text message. Much to my surprise he immediately apologised and said he'd had a couple of beers (so what? But I let it go). I then explained very calmly why I was upset with him. The boat was now ten weeks late going in the water, living on land was much more expensive than being on the boat and I was running out of money, fast. he would be paid but maybe not in one lump sum. Why hadn't he discovered these problems before and why was the engine not installed on Saturday as promised.
Again an apology, it is his fault (true). We can work out the money, if I can pay for what he's had to buy, which is fair enough. He then went off to work on the boat and I went to work on the eBook, having brought the confuser down with me to the yacht club. Henning stopped by and we went for brunch. Apparently on Sunday, after I left the club Martin was asked a number of questions by various people who he counts as friends. They then basically left him on his own to ponder the situation.
To cut to the chase, the second engine is now installed. What he is saying about internal damage still doesn't make any sense, not to me, not to Henning and not to anybody else, so we'll see. he maintains it'll be OK. John the GRP has got the first coat of anti-fouling on (pictures tomorrow) and will be making a start on painting the hull although the weather forecast is for....yes RAIN, this week. I suddenly have club members stopping and offering me lifts (gratefully accepted) and all in all 'the club' has now seemingly decided that I have been hard done by and is now 'rooting for me'.
Anybody know how to de-stress a cat?
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