Dirk Wears White Socks

This is another story about #CatsinNam, well one cat in ‘Nam (That’s Fenham, not Viet-Nam).

As you know part of my steps regime to keep myself reasonably fit is to walk around taking photographs of cats, incidentally, some new neighbours also have a cat so there may be more to share in future.

Anyway, this is about a cat that lives on a main road close to where I live, that I have nicknamed Dirk. The reason for this is that I shared a picture of him and someone pointed out that he wore white socks. That made me think of the Adam and the Ants song “Dirk Wears White Socks”. I am not sure what the song is about but I like it and I’ve included it for you to listen to in this story. On February 12th 2023 I was told that Dirk's real name is Tom.

I have created his own Instagram hashtag which is #DirkTheCatWithWhiteSocks so you can find all my recent encounters with him on my Instagram Channel, though I will change this to #TomTheCatWithWhiteSocks going forward.

Most of the time he has his own space under a hedge with a plastic bowl for water (which is mostly rainwater I think).

Today as I was photographing him and stroking him a postman came up and told me he wasn’t a stray but owned by an old man who lived further up the road, and he comes out first thing in the morning and goes home when it goes dark.

I was aware of this as I meet Dirk most days especially when I replenish provisions when I visit the Co-Op and Dirk always wants to know what I have in my bag, but I don't buy cat treats, but one day I might do that for him, I am sure he would appreciate that.

The other week he was being tormented by some unruly boys and girls who were squirting orange cordial into his water, but Dirk just walked a little up the road and gave them a disdainful scornful look. I asked them what they thought they were doing and they immediately left and dropped the orange bottle which I threw in the bin. I replenished Dirk's water and he came back and sat in his hole in the hedge, and I think he was grateful.

On this stretch of road, Dirk does have an acquaintance but I am not sure if it is a friend, beau or foe but it has the same colour scheme as Dirk. I have only seen them together two or three times and they don't fight but just seem wary of each other.

One day I actually saw Dirk sitting on his own chair. Obviously, it was being thrown out but he sat like an emperor ruling all he surveyed. The chair was only there for a day or two then Dirk went back to his hole in the hedge, but I thought the chair looked so much fun.

The thing is most days Dirk is very friendly and wants petting, he almost always comes to me often miaowing and demanding attention, but that is only to be expected as he is a cat, and he is a cat with white socks.

I can almost guarantee that every time I walk down this stretch of road Dirk will be there. Sometimes he will be asleep and not want to come out but other times he will be playful and sometimes very demanding.

Once or twice he has followed me further than he should I have been worried he might follow me across the road, but he seems sensible and stays on his side of the road.

So here concludes what happens when I meet up with Dirk in his white socks on my walks.