We got Marmalade from a pet shop when I was about 9 or 10, after Mitten was killed by a car. Marmalade and I didn't get off to a great start, when he slashed me across the neck with his claws, but I liked having him around. He disappeared when I was 12 (in 1987), possibly after wandering into a removals van.
Marmalade surveys his domain with a regal pose:
I got Bonguk in 1988 from a friend at boarding school, after his cat got busy with a local stray, and the resulting kitten was dumped on his doorstep. Apparently "Bonguk" is the Turkish word for "beads", since her eyes looked like little beads just after she was born. Her father, on the other hand, was called Tibbles! She was a bit wild at first, but settled down later, and I regretted having to leave her behind when I went off to university. She died/disappeared in about 1994.
Bonguk proves she's a cat by choosing my bag (and cape) over her basket:
From December 2002 to December 2003, I fostered a neighbour's cat. I used to say "adopted", but then they asked for her back, and I decided that she'd be better off with them than she would be with me. She was very friendly, and would spend a lot of time on my lap during the day, then slept on my bed at night. I miss her.
Here are a couple of random photos from the time she spent with me:
And here's a picture of the two of us together, taken just before she left:
This page was last updated on 2004-02-28 by John C. Kirk
