Omar's Diary for October 2017

Some members of the servant species hold the firm belief that felines are a strain of their own species who just happen to wear fur coats. They believe we can empathize, comprehend abstract concepts, and have feelings. I understand the word the servants use for attributing their own characteristics on to species other than their own is "anthropomorphism."

Other members of the servant species believe, which they are quite within their rights to do so, that felines are incapable of holding the same characteristics as themselves. They believe that we felines live in the moment in a very binary world in which our behavior oscillates between eating and sleeping with very little in between them.

I have been aware that both of my very special servants have, for most of this month, been going through some fairly torrid emotional moments.

At the beginning of the month they both came home from something called "work." Before they could get into Omar Towers they were asked to help with an elderly lady servant called "Jill" who had fallen over at home. When my servants got to her they found that she had died on her sofa several hours earlier which was quite a shock to them both.

"Jill" was a very gentle lady servant who would often visit Omar Towers for a chat and cup of tea with my servants. In reality when Jill visited my servants she was actually coming to see me. As soon as I heard her voice I would come down from my day bed, pretend to be very coy as I entered the sitting room and then snuggle down beside her on the sofa. There she would stroke me gently and tell me, what I knew already, that I was a very handsome feline. Her son has become a friend of my servants and like his Mum is a very engaging and energetic individual.

Just like my servants, I will miss her very much.

Since June my servants have been living in Omar Towers during the week and then residing on an estate at weekends. There has been no need to worry about mine or Mitzy’s welfare over these weekends as the "estate" was very near and they were able to return to feed us at least twice a day. I understood the plan was that by living on the estate that the servants along with their equines and us felines could all be living very close together in the middle of the countryside very soon. It sounds like it was going to be a little piece of heaven on earth.

Then over the same weekend that Servant Jill died my servants were told by the estate owners that it would not be possible for all of us to live there together. The reasons for this sudden change of arrangements are far too Machiavellian to be of interest to anyone beyond our own very nuclear family and select few of their very close friends who have been very supportive during this period.

Both of my servants were extremely upset by this and felt that what was going to be a new way of life had been taken away from them. I knew things were bad for both of them over this, especially Lady Servant, so I made a special effort to snuggle with her as much as I could. To make sure she knew I was thinking of her, I would climb on to the bed, usually at three in the morning, and rub my whiskers against her face just to let her know I was thinking of her. I also know that Man Servant was also very upset but almost feline like he has not shown his true feelings.

We now have one and half houses of furniture in one house which makes things a little crowded here in Omar Towers. There are lots of new places to hide now. It is a little chaotic but at least we are altogether under one roof apart from the equines.

Man Servant keeps paraphrasing Winston S Churchill from his book My Early Life:

"Never look down on disaster as it may well be a diversion from a catastrophe."

I think that does provide both of them with some comfort even though they have both been badly hurt by this event.

Man Servant is trying to build a career as a writer and has been contributing to an online publication. In mid-October he really thought his new career was finally getting underway. One of his articles about Britain’s energy security and another one on horse racing finally generated some revenue for him. He was very pleased with this even though the total revenue only amounted to one cent.

Highly motivated, he then drafted another article on a new gas field in Oman. I sat with him while he scoured the internet for information about this development and read the drilling methods used to recover the gas. He drafted the article, submitted it, full of hope, only to find that the online publication had gone out of business and he would never receive his one cent.

The week after Servant Jill died and my servants had been told about the estate Lady Servant traveled to a conference where she presented a research paper on an aspect of her work to an august charitable foundation. They liked the research and the presentation so much they are going to support her work some more. This work will make a difference to servants lives which I know Lady Servant is very proud of achieving.

"Anyone can make a difference, everyone should try." (John Fitzgerald Kennedy).

I am very concerned about Mitzy these days. I think she has gone deaf as when I have walked up behind her I have noticed that she is not aware of my presence until she can see me. I have also noticed that at night time Man Servant will be at the front door of Omar Towers calling her in. Mitzy is black so to a servant’s eyes she would be invisible at night but to a feline’s eyes she is clearly visible. I can see her on the driveway less than ten yards from Man Servant looking away from him but not reacting to his call. Then something will make her turn her head, see Man Servant, and she will run through the door. I do hope she is safe outside because if she has gone deaf she would not be able to hear any cars coming towards her.

Mitzy and I may not always agree on everything but we do respect one another and despite our differences, will always look out for each other.