The Case of the Disappearing Cat

In order not to frighten the guests by live mice (or a naked Chris) running round the bedrooms in the middle of the night, Mr Binks was locked in the kitchen for the night with no access to outside. Awake by 7:30 I decided to go down and give him his freedom, only to find two guests already in kitchen indicating that although they hadn't seen the cat they thought they had heard a faint mewing and thought he was up with us. Logically he must still be in the kitchen, all doors were shut and there was no furniture he could hide under.

So where was he?

The only cupboard he had shown an interest in was the one under the sink with access to the back of the kitchen units, certainly a mouse hunting ground, but the door was shut. However, when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. So I opened the door. There sat Binks in the washing-up bowl. With a plaintiff mew and a single bound he was free, to wait by his biscuit bowl for breakfast. Looking back he must have pulled at the door till it opened enough for him to wedge it with his head and then body. Once in, the door has one of these hinges which snap it shut once it is nearly closed. Unfortunately it doesn't say much for his intelligence that he did not realise he only needed to push against it to get out again.

It's been while so I thought I'd try a bring you up to date. First off the catch details; two weekends in the country and each yielded the same; three mice. One deceased and one brought to the bedroom in, to all intents and purposes, the middle of the night. The remaining one seems to have escaped whilst being carried across the kitchen. On weekend one it got behind the fitted kitchen. This meant Binks was obliged to sit behind the units for long periods to no avail. We didn't see the critter. That is until Sunday morning when studying the papers, out it popped and made a bee-line for the wood-pile. We fooled it into a paper bag and arranged its release. Binks? He was asleep upstairs the whole time.

We had guests last weekend and they were most amused. The escapee was under the sofa this time or more accurately, clinging to the upholstery at the back. It was a simple matter to pull the furniture away from the wall and prod the cowering creature into the paper carrier bag. We're getting quite good at this. And there were birds too - in London. Both midweek; first time a wren which seemed to escape and Tuesday, a young blackbird. The latter was pursued by its parent, screeching. All this at about 10:00pm. Binks is quite willing to release his prey - it seems a sure thing that they're for us - and I managed to get the bird into yet another paper carrier after it wouldn't or couldn't fly away. I released it around the front where the blackbirds congregate. Binks didn't seem interested in going out again once we had our present.