It Started With an Ouzo by Stavros Allanopolis

Author:Stavros Allanopolis
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: Greece
Publisher: Stuart Allan
Published: 2013-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

Photo: Minstrel In The Studio.

For the next three weeks, we did let them out during the day but brought them in at night. There are a few feral cats in the vicinity and we wanted to be sure that Owen and Minstrel would be safe from them until they became secure in their new surroundings.

By the end of the first month, they appeared to be ‘stir crazy’ so we let them stay out all night long and they became quite used to all the wildlife and the birds, although their first few weeks must have been a bit of a shock compared to their life in the UK.

Before moving here, they had never seen a cow or heard it moo-ing, nor had they seen or heard goats and pigs. Not surprisingly, they used to run inside the house if any of them put their head over the wall to look into the garden.

Nowadays, they take all of the ‘wild animals’ in their stride and don’t even move when the animals are around, and even when they are dozing in the olive groves and the cows walk right past where they are lying curled up in the long grass.

The stone wall around the plot of land in which the house stands is one metre high, so it is low enough for both of the cats to jump over if they have to run back to the house for ‘shelter from invaders,’ but high enough to keep out what they regard as unwanted visitors!

They seem to think that the wall was built to protect them if they have to run away from anything.

Whereas Minstrel uses the wall to sleep on, Owen uses the wall to walk around every morning and every evening, much like a soldier on guard duty as he marches around the perimeter to see what is going on.

He also uses the wall as his ‘vantage’ point to watch Valerie working in the garden. She calls him the ‘Project Manager’ because it is as if he is checking that she is doing everything properly.

Whenever he sees her complete a piece of digging and raking the soil smoothly around her, he seems to think that she has done this especially for him to use as his personal toilet digging area; somewhat irritating!

Minstrel mainly uses the wall to sleep on and, from time to time, moves around it depending on the position of the sun as the overhanging branches of the trees give her shade when she gets too hot. However, she is quite a nervous and ‘skitty’ cat; so, mostly she is in a position ready to make an escape into the house via the window and find somewhere safe to hide where nothing can reach her!

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