Marching On: Other side

Welcome to the other side.

The tree is down, the leftover turkey is long gone and the obligatory New Year's hangover has finally subsided. Sadly the snow has also melted, but it is still damnably cold. A quick tour of the house shows a cat curled up under each radiator, and one in the form of a large lump under the quilt. They do not approve of the change in the weather, and I can't say that I blame them.

And so it is 2006. We were at a party on New Year's Eve, and the drink, music (50 Pence in particular) and bizarre, and often obscene conversations were flowing. I vaguely (due to the enormous amount of lager I had taken upon myself to consume) remember some time after the fireworks, which, by the way, were fucking fantastic (for once, although I believe the Mayoral elections are this year), that we had a conversation about the best and worst moments of 2005.

Of course, we covered the big events - the tsunami (although technically that was 2004), Katrina, the London bombings, the series of earthquakes, but we did move on to our personal moments. It was for the best, since alcohol and intelligent conversation don't pair too well.

2005 was the year that Harvey tried to pounce on a moving car. Probably not his finest moment, but definitely his final moment. 2005 also heralded the arrival of Ozzie the Fattest Cat in the Entire World, as well as Darth Lila.

Oh yes, and I also got married :)

The Boy was almost suspended after telling his head teacher that detention was stupid, old fashioned and a waste of time. Since he was already IN detention for rudeness to his teacher, he would have been better keeping his mouth shut, but sadly at seven, discretion does not come easy.

One Eyed Willy nearly lost her tail. Again. It appears that she caused so much damage to it after her last episode that she can now no longer feel it, and so she doesn't pay any attention to it. This is good but there is so much scar tissue that every time she catches it, it bleeds. She doesn't notice, of course, but we notice the flecks of blood on a daily basis and struggle to keep up with cleaning them.

Darth Lila. I don't know whether she comes under good moments or bad moments. I'm not even sure I know where to start. She has been a destructive wave of evil since her arrival, unrivalled by six deranged cats with serious personality problems.

What do we have? OK, I can't blame her for the recurrent cystitis, wet dermatitis, kennel cough and respiratory infection (although the constant farting is open to debate), but what about the time she ate the remote control and had to have an x-ray to locate the lost battery? The time she licked all the paint and plaster off the wall in the living room? The time she ate the entire bathroom, then pissed all over the remnants of the carpet to show her extreme displeasure at being shut up (whilst we replastered the wall that SHE destroyed in the first place)?

I think my biggest hope for 2006 is that it will involve fewer visits to the vet.

Of course, I do have other hopes for 2006. Naturally, there is the possibility of further furry additions to the menagerie. No way in hell does that include another dog though - Lila is all the dog I will ever need, and is almost certainly responsible for all the grey hairs I have discovered.

Another hope is that when I decide to dye my hair again to disguise the Lila induced grey, it WILL go as intended. No more fucking scarlet for me. No more angsty Goth. Just nice dark brown. No grey. Do I really ask that much?

Oh, and a non furry addition would be very welcome too.