Good Hiding

 It started a little grey but the sun soon broke through and we had a lovely day. It wasn't as hot as it has been but it was still in the low 20s. I walked to Zoe's and performed my school escort duty.

There was a little on our agenda today. With Jasper still around, we couldn't stray from our regular routine and couldn't get the suitcases out. I retreated to the study and completed some scanning that had been piling up. We were on tenterhooks, awaiting an email from Mark, the Cat Whisperer, to let us know if Jasper could start his spa break a couple of days early. The email finally arrived. Jasper's room would be ready after 17:00.

Jasper knew. I don't know how, be he knew.

The afternoon progressed as usual and we collected Ellie from school at the allotted time. There had been a bit of an upset over her school meals - apparently, she was not on the list. They sorted her out with some pizza, but this is something for Zoe to troubleshoot. We stopped off at the park on the way home but didn't stay for too long. Darren collected Ellie at about 16:15 and that left us with Jasper!

Jasper had switched into stealth mode. He had snuck under Ellie's bed and settled in the most inaccessible spot. We left him to emerge on his own. (Kitchen plates were laid out, his food was prepared, and all of the usual cues were given. Nada. He stayed put.

In the end, gone 18:00, I lost patience. It was time to try and extract him. Now, I should point out that Ellie's bed is a significant edifice, shaped as a sleigh bed. It has approximately the same gross tonnage as HMS Prince of Wales. Despite this, I managed to lift and slide one end and then the other. Jasper bolted for it - cursing me all the way. I picked him up and tried to soothe him as I took him downstairs to his carrier. I evidently soothed him too much as he decided to empty the contents of his bladder all down my leg. He was dropped into the carrier and strapped into the back seat of the car. Twenty minutes later we handed him over to the Cat Whisperer.

The holiday has begun - even though, strictly speaking, it hasn't.