July 5th – Returning, I came down the main road, and by the old people’s flats, a familiar grumpy, curled up ball, sleeping in the communal garden: it’s the old gummy cat I featured here a couple of weeks ago.
Always nice to see the old lad, and I particularly like his truculent, just-woken-up air here. Such a lovely old cat. I’m sure we share many common traits in our parallel dotages.
July 4th – It was a day of cats. Cats everywhere. Strolling, taking the air. Sleeping, lounging, supervising, watching. These are just a selection of the lovely pusses I met out and about on my commute.
Stripes was lounging under a car in Birchills, and was annoyed because I caught him washing his bum, legs asplay. Ginger was snoozing, half asleep in the shrubs near Catshill Junction, and is a cat I’ve seen many times. The pair of flat out sleepers? The same pair of sleepyheads I saw last week in Scarborough Road, Pleck, presumably waiting for their staff to return home.
Presumably the lack of sun but general still warmth encouraged these lazybones out today. It was wonderful to meet them.
June 30th – Spotted near Wednesbury, this lovely black cat that I’m sure a passing witch must have left behind. Prowling the perimeter of it’s territory, it peered at me cautiously before settling down to stare me out through the railings.
A lovely puss that clearly takes security duties very seriously indeed!
June 20th – This old chap is someone I’m very pleased to see, for the first time this year.
This elderly, gummy old cat lives in Kings Hill, Darlaston, and is clearly a well loved companion to someone in the old folk’s flats there. I’ve been saying hello to him in passing for years now, and he’s a good natured but aloof fellow who’s proud and busy despite his clearly senior status.
His whiskers are always immaculate, and his lack of teeth doesn’t seem to impede his hunting instinct. But the reason I’m pleased to see this gentleman is that I always think about old cats, lying in the sun, enjoying the day. Never is a cat happier than summer, and I’m pleased this one survived long enough to feel another day of healing sun on his back, ease his aches and maybe stir the memories of kittenhood and a life well lived.
So pleased you’re still around old lad.
June 19th – I met this skinny, lithe young cat in north Walsall, flaked out on the footpath in the late afternoon heat. Grubby, like he’d been sleeping and rolling in the dust all day, clearly a gentleman of leisure.
The curious position he was in I initially feared he might be hurt, but he was fine, and obligingly rolled over for a tummy tickle and game of chew the finger.
A charming soul and a true flaneur of the summer streets.
June 14th – I notice that on the embankment on the north side of the Black Cock Bridge in Walsall Wood, the vipers bugloss is flowering again. In 2014, this was very prolific, in full bloom for about 20-30 metres, but now is sadly confined to just the one clump.
A beautiful flower though, and one I’ve not seen anywhere else locally.
June 8th – Passing down Scarborough Road in Pleck, south Walsall I noticed these cats, clearly waiting for the return of their owners from work. The two black and white ones seem to be siblings and clearly aren’t particularly fond of each other; I’ve recorded them studiously ignoring each other before.
I’m intrigued by the grey one, though – I’ve not seen that one before and it looks like a gorgeous cat.
I was also amused by the disgusted expression of the one in the foreground. If looks could kill….
May 30th – Coming back into Brownhills and passing the appropriately named Catshill Junction, the local neighbourhood watch was on duty, doing what it does best.
Watching the neighbourhood.
Mainly for birds, I think, but I couldn’t actually see the focus of peeping Tom’s attention. But I do think this captures the feline spirit well. Bless – it never paid me any attention at all.
May 23rd – With warmer weather, during the warm hours, the urban cat population revert ro their languid, lazy norms, finding shady, peaceful spots to doze and watch the world go by – at least until it’s cooler, when they tend to be more active.
Coming through central Walsall in the afternoon, this young overseer of the neighbourhood was en repose on top of the wheeliebins in a shady front garden, and clearly enjoying the cool vantage point.
Seeing such characters emerge is one of the best things about summer…
May 14th – When cat photo sequences go wrong.
Hopwas, a summer evening. A beautiful long haired black and white cat, not ready for internet fame.
One look at me with the camera and offer of a stroke and puss jumped back over the wall to hide…
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