Figaro's Diary

Florida a Memory - a happy one

2012-02-06T16:08:00.000Z

It's been snowing. I've been staying in bed - and I'm jolly pleased I am not a real cat who would have to go out in the garden. So here's a nice picture from our holiday (vacation) and some news of what we have been doing since we got back.

Here I am with my humans when we met Pooh and Tigger towards the end of the trip near the International Gateway of Epcot. The previous time we met, Tigger had been giving me Bouncing lessons so I was pleased to show him how well I was doing. The camera didn't catch that bit but take my word for it: Tigger was impressed!

Last weekend, we all went to Harrogate to tidy up Andrew's mother's flat before it is put on the market for sale (yes, she does know - and approve). It was a tiring time for the humans. I stayed in the car and in the hotel room where my humans had an overnight stay.

We left Harrogate about 1.00pm on Saturday and it had started to snow there. We got ahead of the snow on the road (it was moving slowly: my Mikki is a very safe driver). Snow started at home in the evening and about 4 inches fell. We were all jolly glad we had no need to go out the next day (Sunday). By today it is thawing. Even in our little village, driving is nothing like as difficult as during last year's snow and things are even better on the main road and in the town.

We went to Walt Disney World to be warm. We were. We watched the temperatures at home and we were always 25-30 deg F warmer where we were. But now we are back and it is still cold, wet and miserable here. Perhaps we should stay longer next year. Meanwhile, I'll look out some more pictures to help remind me of how nice it was and what fun we had.

And I'll have another cuddle, please.

And then back to bed.

When Obama Visited

2012-01-30T17:42:00.000Z

We are back home now after finishing ur holiday in Florida and a rather more businesslike trip to London (actually, so businesslike they didn't even take me!!). So, at last, we can all settle down and I can get up to date with my Blog.

I suppose the big thing you want to know about the last week of our holiday (vacation) is, what was it like being in the Magic Kingdom at the same time as the President of the United States. The simple answer is that I don’t know. My humans didn’t take me! They got freaked about enhanced security and what might happen to me. So here’s their story.

"Advance publicity had made us think the Magic Kingdom would be a place to avoid but on the day it appeared open and with short lines so we went. Approaching along the walkway from the Contemporary, security was much in evidence – Sheriff’s Dept. cars guarding all backstage entrances. In fact there was only the regular bag check and no lines to get into the park.

"Once through the gates we discovered that due to Main Street being closed some of the ‘characters’, like the Mayor, the Fire Chief and their lady friends were at the very front of the park and we got a lovely photo with them. Yes, Andrew is holding the Fire Chief's axe.

"As we moved onto Town Square people were being pointed to a side exit that took us backstage to Tomorrowland. This is where Disney had made backstage something special. There were Main Street vehicles, Parade Floats from several different parades and Cinderella’s coach. There were lots of photo opportunities for our own camera and some official photographers. I think these "fish floats are from the "Spectromagic" parade. This wasn't showing during our visit (they had the Main Street Electrical Parade). It's fun to see them in daylight - even if (like being in a theatre dring rehearsals) it takes away a little of the magic."

I must interrupt to add that my human Andrew loves talking about "Spectromagic". He likes to show off about the time he was "backstage" in 1991 and saw the "Spectromagic" vehicles being built in Central Shops. That's a long time ago, Andrew: before I was even with you!! I'll let them resume.

"Once in the main park we went to see if Rapunzel was there and arrived at just the right time as we were almost immediately let into the garden she uses. Into Fantasyland and there were plenty of extra characters. We just missed a picture with the ugly sisters and the evil stepmother. We were told the sisters had to go to their singing lessons. Mikki commented that they needed them and the stepmother heard her! We may not have got a picture but we sure had a conversation! It was very amusing.

"We had fun with other characters, too. Restricted access meant you could only get to the fairies (only 2 now – Tinker Bell and Rosetta) by walking right round the park. The upside was that they had practically no line. We had pictures without characters too. We were getting one by “Haunted Mansion” when a rather large helicopter came over and landed. The Disney photographer advised we didn’t point our camera at it and assured us they were taking good pictures of him!!

"Lines for rides were generally short too – although the park did get busier as the day passed. We rode Snow White” and “Pirates of the Caribbean”. We left the Magic Kingdom shortly after 1.00pm. We took the boat to the Polynesian and looked round there. By good chance, we decided not to have lunch at Kona Cafe and were about to get on the monorail when Mikki had an “e-mail” offering us a place at the “Tables in Wonderland” special dinner tonight"

I'll leave that "highlight" to my next post. Again, I wasn't invited (Meeeooww). However, that dinner may be connected with the low point of the last week: Andrew was ill for the next three days. Fortunately, I was there to give him lots of cuddles.

I said, "lots of cuddles". Thank you. Prrrrr.

Meeting Other Characters - and More

2012-01-17T03:40:00.000Z

Yes, this is another picture with me, my human Andrew, and Mickey Mouse - but it does go rather better (at least for Andrew)!. I'll explain when we get to it.

Today, it's Monday 16th January and we have had a busy holiday weekend in and out of the Parks. It has also been colder than normal around here (especially on Saturday) even if a lot warmer than at home in Lincolnshire. In fact, I think I'll pass over Saturday in Epcot even if I did get a few nice pictures.

Sunday in the Magic Kingdom was definitely our day for nice pictures with characters - as well as being a good deal warmer. We had quite a long wait for a picture with Jasmine and Alladin but passed the time chatting to the person in front of us who turned out to be a cast member originally from California who had worked there, here and in Tokyo as well as his current job in Paris. He told us something about the preparations for their 20th anniversary.

We had a much shorter line for Tigger and Pooh in Town Square. Tigger gave me some bouncing lessons. I can't wait to see the photopass picture.

It was now time to meet our friend, Christine and her family. Lines for almost everything were long but, surprisingly, seeing Mickey Mouse was not one. We were soon ushered into his room - and found Minnie was wirh him. Minnie was very pleased to see me and gave me a kiss. Then the "minder" suggested a "double kiss" - but for Andrew. Anyway, he got this photo and I think it is quite unusual and very cute. I suppose you can say "follow that". Philharmagic and the TTA were what we did but you can't really top this picture.

So today, a holiday Monday, we avoided Parks and went to the shops. The humans found some Mickey Mouse and Tinker Bell figures (the only Figaro was far too small). In Wal-Mart, they got some presents for neices and some more DVDs. Elsewhere, they bought sandals that help exercise and stocked up on orange juice.

I was pleased that one thing on the shopping list was a fine black pen which Mikki has already used to perform restorative surgery on my eyes. I can see a lot better now.

I'm writing this in the evening while the humans are watching their DVDs. I'm still not sure about Mikki doing this, but at least I've got her to be a bit more gentle about putting me in the trunk of the car (she now asks if I will feel safer out of sight). What I really need is a cuddle. Yes, now.

Prrrrr.

Much Better Now

2012-01-14T02:14:00.001Z

It must have been right for me to post my worries about Andrew because things got better almost immediately. His cough got a lot better overnight (which meant we all got a better night's sleep) and Mikki decided to take charge of his back by insisting he use a wheelchair. Yesterday morning (12th Jan), we went to the Magic Kingdom. Andrew controlled the pains in his neck and back; I had lots of fun sitting on his lap; and even Mikki claimed to enjoy herself. I just think she was heroic - and I have learned that round here Mikki (either spelling) is the Boss. So here's our picture with Mickey.

Everyone was very nice to us and lots of people recognised me - like the Mayor of Main Street (and Mickey Mouse himself). We also had pictures with Princesses Cinderella, Belle and Aurora - and also with the fairies but Tinker Bell made a complete fool of herself by calling me a d*g. We were back in the park today and met Peter Pan, who said that was just like Tinker Bell: little know-all.

Yesterday evening, the humans went to Epcot for dinner at Bistro de Paris. They said they had a lovely time but didn't take me.

This morning we went shopping. The main purpose was to find another quality food shop and we went to "Whole Food" in a development at the junction of Turkey Lake and Sand Lake Roads. The humans seemed pleased. They ate in the room tonight. Of course they made some other visits too.

They have been using their GPS today. This was fun on the way out: we realised how long it has been since we really went exploring as it took us down roads we didn't know existed. It diidn't do so well on the way back: it got totally mixed up about the location of our hotel. Just as well we knew a way ourselves.

The only downside of the shopping is that Mikki has taken to unceremoniously dumping me in the boot (trunk) of the car while in the stores. I think she's been watching too much television (and she has bought a Burn Notice DVD set!). Mikki, it's fantasy - and it's set in Miami not central Florida. Stick to reality: Disney World.

Like I said, we have been back to MK today. Mikki pushed Andrew and me along the walkway. Who needs Belgian cobbles on Test Track when you have a wheelchair and "Walk Around the World". In MK, we had several new experiences, like boarding "Haunted Mansion" and "Buzz Lightyear" where you normally get off. We also saw another new place - the First Aid Center! Somehow Andrew managed to cut himself on the way in. It was no big deal (unless you're a toy cat terrified of getting blood on your fur) and just needed a small band-aid.

So, things are much improved in the last day or two. Long may it continue.

Prrrr, Prrrrr.

Marathon Weekend - and a Bit More

2012-01-12T02:23:00.000Z

Here's a few thoughts on our first week in Walt Disney World. We have been in Kidani Village overlooking the (flesh and blood) zebra, giraffe and co. That has been something rather special for the humans. They specially liked the early mornings, when there were often animals right outside our window.

The big event of the last week was the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend and it was lovely to meet so many of our friends who had taken part. It started off with an easy 5k on the Friday, moved on to a half marathon on the Saturday and finished with a full marathon on the Sunday. What was remarkable was that lots of folks did all 3! There were Disney style medallions for each race but everyone agreed that the ultra snazzy new Donald Duck design for the half marathon was the best (#1 for once Donald!). We even saw a couple of people with a sash reading "Perfect Goofy". We learned that running both the marathon and half marathon qualifies you as "Goofy" and "Perfect Goofy" meant you had been "Goofy" every one of the 19 times Disney have held the event. Even our most eager running friends thought that was "seriously Goofy". My humans and I congratulate anyone who has run one - ever.

It's time for my picture - now that I have got the humans to learn how to get them on the little Netbook we have with us. It is me with Marie the Aristocat in the France area of Epcot. The humans are there too. Marie gave me a nice cuddle, and a kiss! - but I think she may be a bit big for me.

We have spent a bit of time in all of the parks. Mikki specially wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom last Friday so she could ride Big Thunder Mountain before it closed. She had 3 rides including 2 with Fast Pass.

I've had my picture with a few other Disney characters already. We met everyone at the Character Spot here in Epcot and we have had lunch with Donald at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. The humans also had one with Tigger and Pooh in the UK pavilion but didn't include me!! The Studios were a little disappointing. There seems to be less than ever in the Animation Building. Even the new Star Tours ride didn't excite us (well, that went for the newer movies too).

We've also been round and about at the stores too. On property, there is a new Figaro plush. I say, "new" but he is just "Fancy" without the gold spray paint and with a collar with his name on it. I like it that he doesn't have the gold spots - which made him look like he had some strange disease. But I'm not sure about calling him, "Cured Figaro". Can it be that he won't come home? Off property, the humans have explored some different fresh food stores as well as their regular places (like the Disney outlets).

Finally, I have to admit to worries about my human, Andrew. We've been here a week and "the child within" still hasn't really come to the surface. He's still seeing lots of negatives about Disney - like the poor tv, the poor internet connection (and someone said they even block sports sites that aren't ESPN), the noise almost everywhere and the lack of readable menus in restaurants. He was specially sad that a quality restaurant didn't have a large print menu. This sort of thing is getting fairly common in the UK and Disney used to be leaders in disability awareness.

Andrew has a persistent cough and some back aches so perhaps he will feel better as we sort these out. Fortunately, he is still happy to give me a cuddle.

Prrrr.

First Day in Disney

2012-01-06T00:05:00.000Z

It's Thursday January 5th and my humans and I are enjoying the Christmas music at the Kidani Village section of Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. Yes, so much has happened that it is easy to forget it is still Christmas.

On Tuesday 3rd, we travelled by train to Gatwick Airport. The journey was miserable. Lots of trains were cancelled and we managed to get on one that had been diverted but had standing room only. Poor Mikki had to stand for two houurs. Andrew managed to perch on his own - solidly built - suitcase and I and my fellow toys had to stay in the luggage.

The time at the Hilton Hotel at Gatwick Airport was rather better. We were offered, and took, a reduced price upgrade to a suite. I had some nice pictures taken. We were even recognised at reception. My humans enjoyed relaxing in the Executive lounge and even got chatting to some people they may meet later here in Florida.

We flew yesterday, Wednesday. Our plane had been changed for the flight to a different sort so my humans had been split up but the check-in person realised this wasn't what we intended and got it changed. I got out on the plane. New leather seats that were an improvement but the food was not that good and there was not as much space for me to stand. Mikki says I have to win the lottery for them if I want to go upper class again! Meeeoww!

After a nine hour flight, we were all tired but very pleased to get to Florida and to Kidani Village. The humans had a snack and a beer in the bar and went to bed.

Today has mostly been a day for sorting things out: the car hire, the park tickets and so on. Some things went well and some took longer than the humans wanred. I think they are both still tired. They had lunch at Sanaa. It's a cute location with a lovely view of the animals - and if the food tastes good, who cares how authentically Indian it is (or why you have an Indian themed restaurant overlooking African animals). I'm so glad I'm a toy and don't have to worry about things like eating.

This evening we met our friend Christine - who is running a 5 km race tomorrow morning. She gave me a lovely cuddle. Good luck Christine.

Sorry, no pictures with the posts for the moment. My technical crew claims he hasn't the right software to edit and upload the photos. Perhaps I'll find a way to catch up later.

For those of used to the weather in England, the 60s F temperature today was comfortable. From tomorrow, it is supposed to get warmer. Prrrrr.

Christmas Presents

2011-12-31T15:16:00.001Z

My humans didn't take their Christmas presents for each other with them to Andrew's brother - who they spent Christmas day with. So, they forgot about them completely until last night. Both presents were Disney memorabilia. Andrew's for Mikki was a Lennox statue of Mickey Mouse holding a lovely big heart. Mikki's for Andrew was this statue - of Tinker Bell!! (Well, they didn't have one of Figaro).

Apparently this was made to commemorate 25 years of the Disney Store. I must admit it is quite striking. It has something of the idea of a trophy or award to it. I think Andrew may put it on his desk in his study so he can pretend it was something he was presented with. Don't worry, Andrew, until they give awards for weirdness, you are quite safe.

Oh. I have a few comments of my own before anyone asks.

1. Tinker Bell is not running away from me. Nor, sadly, is she turning round to stroke me. She is an ornament. It's just how the photographer chose to place her.

2. Mikki insists Andrrew would get every award for "best husband" she could give.

3. Did I tell you my humans were nos. 11 and 12 through the door of the first Disney Store to open in London? Yes, they've been weird for a long time.

Back to business and to wish everyone a happy, lucky and successful 2012. I'm looking forward to a lot of new pictures with characters starting in just a few days time.

Prrrrr.

Merry Christmas: Ho, Ho, Ho.

2011-12-22T11:15:00.000Z

This is my last post before Christmas and may be my last of the year. Tomorrow, I am off with my humans to join other members of Andrew's family for the Holidays. I have to say I'm amazed how much work I have done this month and I won't mind a little time to relax.

So Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays from me and my humans. I hope Santa brings us all what we have asked for and we all have a happy and prosperous time in 2012.

Figaro the Toy Cat.

Prrrrrrrrrrr.....

We Are Not Alone: and Christmas Wishes

2011-12-21T11:58:00.001Z

I was planning to put up a photo of Figaro's Christmas stocking just before Christmas - but I had not expected that I would already have received some lovely presents myself.

Warm welcome to Brian who has started following me (and to Ellen and Brian who are following my picture on Andrew's tweets). Hope they forgive me, however, if I reserve my most special Prrrrrr for Buttons the toy rabbit. He also has a Blog on Blogger. A Rabbit's Ramblings. Meet him at:
http://buttonsbunnyblog.blogspot.com/

Buttons is my first real toy friend in this wonderful world of the internet and social networking. It is taking my humans (OK, I mean Andrew) quite a lot to get used to and I am way behind the times.

Still, it would be very nice to hear from any other cuddly or chatty toys out there who would like to join us. Felines of all sorts welcome but so too are all bears, sheep, hamsters, mice, horses, etc - even d*gs. You don't have to be Disney. Buttons isn't.

Meanwhile, here is my picture of Figaro's Christmas stocking - which we saw as part of a display of Geppetto's workshop in the Contemporary Resort in 2009. See that! The humans have put me where it looks like I'm a puppet and Geppetto is controlling me. The things we stars have to put up with. They've also got too much flash in my face. Sometimes stars even have to work with amateurs - and it does make me look very clean and white.

What would I tell Santa I would like in the stocking? I was just looking forward to a few more cuddles but a new friend has been a lovely early bonus. Happy Christmas, Buttons.

Prrrrrr.

Life's Tough When You're a Star

2011-12-17T11:13:00.000Z

It's one thing that my humans seem to enjoy dressing up and looking silly but when they do it to their toys it needs explanation.

The humans went out last night (Friday) and joined friends and neighbours in a large party for Christmas dinner in our local restaurant. There was lots of good food and joking (I am told) - and Christmas crackers to pull. Well, my Mikki pulled hers and took out the paper party hat - but found it had been glued in the wrong place and was tiny (with a long tail). She immediatly announced it was my size - and that she would prove it with a photo on the web. Soon another human found an eye patch as the novelty in their cracker. Mikki said I would like that too. So here I am: on my Blog and another photo on Twitter, @andrew1987Young. I think it is the very first picture Andrew has put up there.

It all seems rather humiliating in some ways. Not only do they dress me up like this but put me up on the mantelpiece next to mere ornaments. And they're ornamants of mice and a pixie! There's a nice Armani statue of a really cute kitten on the end of the mantelpiece but they're not showing that. They've even put a Christmas card in front of it! Meeeoow.

It's taking a lot of work for me to remain calm and dignified. After all, Figaro is not just any Disney character: he is a star. He has short films of his own - and his own little song to accompany them. I know people like to see me and, like a true star, I must keep the fans happy. Besides, the least I can say is that the humans were thinking about me when they were out last night.

And the hat's actually a bit big - but we stars sometimes have to cope with ill-fitting costumes, don't we?

I think I deserve a cuddle now.

Prrrrr.

Preparations Continue

2011-12-16T13:56:00.000Z

The humans are still busy getting ready both for the Festive Season here and the trip to Walt Disney World.

Mikki has been playing Christmas music in the car for a few days now but she hasn't yet completed one "tradition" of making a fresh compilation. She has been waiting for the "Military Wives" CD. It is due to be released on Monday but Amazon have just sent an "e-mail" to say it has been dispatched (so we expect it tomorrow). That'll be that job done.

For the holiday (by which I mean vacation, not Christsmas!) Mikki is downloading the latest US maps for her SatNav (GPS). She did a great deal when she bought it in the USA: free US map upgrades for life. Now we just have to keep visiting to use them.

For my picture, I've chosen another of those small discreetly decorated trees that you find all over WDW :). Seriously, they do work hard and do a great job. This one was at the Grand Floridian Resort. DVC have just sent Andrew an e-mail saying they are going to build villas there. "Knew that" said Mikki. Perhaps we will have somewhere new to go to in a few years time.

Prrr.

December in Florida

2011-12-15T15:16:00.000Z

It's cold and miserable outside here in England so I'm cheering myself up with a picture taken on one of our previous December trips to Walt Disney World. Those in "the north" (UK or USA) just imagine the warmth.

This is at our "Home" DVC resort of Old Key West. Of course, when my humans joined it was just "The Disney Vacation Club". And there was a sales centre ("The Commodore House") where the building behind me to the right of the picture is. My humans remember looking out at that fountain while going through the papers and talking about buying. They say that in those days it was the softest sell in the world. All that was a long time ago: 1992! That's so long ago that it was before I had even gone to live with my humans.

The picture is a lot more recent. Since then, Disney has carried out a major refurbishment of the interior - which has quite spoilt it for us. We will not be staying at Old Key West during our January visit. But outside, it still looks idyllic.

Yes, yes. It's sunny in the picture but how warm was it really? I can't remember: I'm only a toy cat. So it probably wasn't as warm as in the summer. It still makes you wish you were there, though. Doesn't it?

Now I wish for a little cuddle, please.

Prrrrr

Places Friends can Take You

2011-12-12T20:30:00.000Z

Christmas is a time to remember your friends, and my humans and I have made a lot of friends through our interest in Disney.

One December visit a friend was able to do something special for us. He worked for GM, the sponsors of Test Track, and he was able to get a group of us into the VIP lounge there. You can probably see Mission Space on this picture but the most spectacular thing is the cars wizzing past just below the window. I was content to have my picture with the Christmas Tree. Andrew is holding me nicely and Mikki says I look really good (I always do, don't I).

We are looking forward to seeing some friends in January. Mikki is hoping to see lots more in October.

When I look through my pictures I see lots with friends from Disney. there are a lot of nice people out there! I have had lots of nice cuddles.

Prrrr.

Christmas on Main Street, USA

2011-12-10T12:52:00.001Z

Happy Holidays from the heart of Walt Disney World - Main Street, USA. Here is my human, Andrew, holding me right in the middle of it. This picture was taken a few years ago but is the most recent I have of the decorations on Main Street. Don't you wish you were there (less than 4 weeks to go).

It's also a lovely reminder that even at this time of year it can be nice and warm in Florida - well, warmer than here anyway. The sun was shining today when my humans went round the village delivering the village newsletter and some Christmas cards. I went in the car to supervise and keep them company but didn't get out. It was jolly cold. There was quite a lot of slippery ice on the paths. Fortunately, the humans only found this with the soles of their shoes!

Back home now for a nice warming cuddle.

Brrr, Brrr, Prrrrr.

Snowman

2011-12-09T17:32:00.001Z

It's back to Disney Christmas with this picture of me with a snowman (not real snow, of course).

At home, the humans have erected our artificial snowman in the living room. This year, he is on a little table so he can be seen from outside. We're jolly glad we didn't put him outside, although he is supposed to be for indoor or outdoor use. The wind yesterday was very strong. He would have been at serious risk of getting damaged or blown away. The neighbours had a gate broken and the whole village had the power out for a couple of hours (the power company said it would be 9, so I suppose we should compliment them).

Today, it's calmer but colder. Toy cats don't need to go outside.

You can see me with our snowman in my first Post of January this year.

The snowman at the top was set up for a "Merry Mixer" party for members of the Disney Vacation Club. It's only fair that you get to see some of the other "folks" we got to merrily mix with. Donald and Daisy Duck came along. Daisy is giving me a nice little tickle. Yes, that's right. Now up a bit. Good.

Prrrr.

Safari

2011-12-07T11:01:00.001Z

More good days for a toy cat to stay indoors. It's just started raining (again). Forecast is of gales today and a warning of severe gales and heavy rain coming to our area tomorrow. Let's think of somewhere much warmer where we will be in January.

This picture was taken during our last "January" visit to Wald Disney World. Here I am on the balcony of our room at Kidani. Just look at the giraffes behind me and imagine the baking African savannah.

OK, central Florida in January is not quite "baking". My humans were wearing jackets a lot of the time. I did say, "imagine", and if you're not wiling to free up your imagination you probably won't make the most of Disney World.

I am pretty sure I can look forward to it being warmer than here. We will be spending part of the time at Kidani again, so I can also look forward to some new pictures of me watching the animals. And, I am looking forward to lots of cuddles. Of course, I don't have to go to Florida for them - or wait until January.

That's it. Prrrrrr.

Internet Serious Stuff

2011-12-06T10:24:00.001Z

Oh, Dear. I should have guessed there would be a price to pay for being allowed to get chatty on my Blog. My human, Andrew, says I should care about the future of the Internet. Well I'm a toy cat, so that's difficult. But I trust my human Andrew and I think he has done a little research of his own since he was asked to get involved..

It seems there is a law being proposed in the US Congress which lots of serious Internet people think would have damaging and unintended consequences. It goes under acronyms like SOPA or PIPA. It's supposed to stop piracy. This piracy is not about "Pirattes of the Caribbean" (which I like) but protecting copyright owners like tv companies and film studios who invest lots of money in creating the content we like. As so often with laws, "the Devil is in the Detail". People like Facebook, Google, Twitter and ebay have got together to say it will both fail in what it is trying to do and make life far too difficult for them and their users (like me).

Anyone in the USA is asked to get involved by doing things like writing to their US senators. You can find out more from Mozilla: Look them up or (if you're foolinsh enough to trust a link given to you by a toy cat) go to: https://donate.mozilla.org/page/s/SOPA?source=sopa_page

Outside the USA? You can sign an international petition. Look for AVAAZ or go to: http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?mzla

You may like to check out these sites yourself to make sure you want to sign up to their ideas, get on their e-mail lists etc. Figaro's Diary accepts no responsibility . . . . . . etc.

Is that all the serious stuff I have to do? I'll just put up this little picture of me in California with the ocean behind me. Andrew's using this for his avatar on Twitter - @Andrew1987Young. I think he's still a little scared of putting up his own face.

Cuddle now please.

Christmas Hamper

2011-12-06T09:34:00.001Z

Now that my humans live in a small village, they do quite a bit of shopping by internet and post - so a parcel delivery is quite common. Mostly, though, they know what they are expecting. So it was a delightful surprise when a large box was delivered yesterday. "What's this", called Andrew to Mikki. "It's a lovely hamper", replies the delivery man. Oh wow! The label said it came from Fortnum & Mason. And here's the contents.

I'm a toy cat: I don't eat. But I think all this looks jolly yummy for humans. Biscuits, two types of tea and one of coffee; wine mulling spices and lots more. It's a super Christmas gift from Mikki's sister, Julie, and her family in Bermuda. Thank you, lovely people. I think my humans plan to keep some of the items for themselves at home and to take some to share with Andrew's family who we are joining for Christmas.

Less than a day later (and it's raining outside again) but the humans are already planning what they will do with the empty basket - which has "F & M" clearly printed on the lid. If the UK gets any summer next year, there could be picnics on their own decking by the river.

Come along now. If you are going to spoil yourselves with all these treats, the least you can do is give me a little cuddle.

Prrrrr.

Christmas Warmth

2011-12-05T10:24:00.001Z

Here is another Christmas picture from our trip to WDW in 2009. This is my human Andrew holding me in front of a display at the Walt Disney World Dolphin suggesting a lovely warm Christmas on the beach (make your snowman a sandman).

Outside here, now, it is raining. Higher ground in England - including Andrew's brother's house - have had snow overnight. Crisp fresh snow can look very pretty but driving through snow isn't part of the fun of being with family (my driver, Mikki, says).

I quite like the idea of a nice warm Christmas. I think we might have to go even further south than central Florida to guarantee Christmas on a real, outdoor, beach (and I don't really like real sand in my fur). Truth is that it doesn't matter that much as long as we're all together, and I'm getting lots of cuddles.

Prrr

One Month to Go

2011-12-04T11:31:00.001Z

A month from now, we will be on our way to Walt Disney World. My human Mikki is planning how to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad as much as possible while it is open. I am just thinking about a nice relaxing time and a few more pictures with characters.

The picture was taken on our last trip out in October 2010. We were Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic. Sadly, this is not how we will be travelling this time - but a toy can reminisce and dream can't he?

We all loved it. We started with breakfast, massage and mimosas in the Upper Class lounge at Gatwick. Onboard, the food was lovely and the humans could lie down and sleep while we toys could chat with the friendly cabin crew at the bar.

The flight was the result of the humans using a Virgin credit card and accumulating quite a large number of reward points. I don't think it will be happening again soon (and Virgin are cutting back on Upper Class anyway).

On another subject, thank you, Ellen, for thinking of me and sending my Mikki the cartoon of the Dalek with a cat. My humans have two radio controlled toy Daleks they were given one Christmas. All they seem to want to do is exterminate each other. Petting is OK but I prefer proper cuddles - and from proper humans. Yes, you two, that means you.

Prrrr.

Christmas Preparations Continue

2011-12-03T11:08:00.001Z

Preparations for Christmas continue in our house. Andrew has been up in the attic getting down boxes of decorations and Mikki is sorting out what she wants to put up first.

There are some nice soft toys/beanies that are all dressed up in Christmas costumes and have to spend most of the year in st***ge. It's nice to see them out, even if they are all mice (and one d*g).

Andrew has now set up the snowman (see "Snow has Gone" in January). He is staying indoors this year. Too warm outside!

Meanwhile I have been comforting the humans with cuddles as they both started crying. They were watching the new video of the Military Wives Choir. Look at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hR6O7VxKaQ

My humans have already ordered the official song and are sending some money to military charities. I'm not sure I understand, but it seems this is the world's chance to show we want to help our heroes more than we want to support someone called Simon Cowell.

For my picture, I am still in Walt Disney World. This tree was in the foyer of the Beach Club Resort. I think whichever of my humans was taking the picture was trying to be artistic by framing me with two of the big chairs. Don't worry. The picture'll be fine. It's got me in it.

Later today, the humans will help erect the tree in our village. The official lighting ceremony is this evening.

There, there. Calm down. Let me give you another cuddle.

Prrrr.

Lights of Winter

2011-12-01T12:21:00.001Z

According to the UK Met. Office, "winter" starts officially today for weather purposes. We're looking forward to better weather in Florida in January but meanwhile here is another picture of Christmas at Walt Disney World.

It's of the "Lights of Winter" the lovely light and music show at Epcot that has now been retired. It is quite difficult to get a good picture of the show so my human Mikki was very happy to find a good one in the middle of her new book from "Celebrations" magazine. This picture was taken a few years ago. It's the best of my humans' I could find, but I can't help thinking there's something missing.

Meanwhile, preparations for trips to WDW continue. Mikki is now looking at a second visit - in October. That is so she can be there for the 15th anniversary celebratons of "Intercot", the web discussion board where she is a moderator. It's about 11 months away so Mikki has started thinking about things like flights and booking DVC accommodation.

Yes, there is something missing from the picture. But it is quite difficult to get a good close up of a toy kitten and have the light display in focus too. I'll forgive them for now - provided I get a cuddle.

Prrr.

Christmas Memories

2011-11-30T11:04:00.001Z

My title is the title of a book Mikki got in the post (mail) yesterday. It is a special hard back collectors' edition of the "Celebrations" magazine Mikki gets. It is just full of wonderful pictures of Walt Disney World at Christmas. I haven't found any of a black and white kitten but Mikki is really enjoying it.

There are lots of large model displays among Disney's Christmas decorations. This one, of a funfair, was in the Boardwalk Villas: incidentally, just about the only DVC location on property where we have not stayed.

And talking of things coming in the mail, Andrew's temporary disabled person's parking permit also arrived yesterday. That's just a week since Mikki spoke to the Osceola County office about it. She was impressed that they could immediately call up all Andrew's details from our visit in 2010 and sent it off as soon as they had the credit card payment. I am told this may not be typical of every US local government office but it is certanly not typical of the UK public serrvice (who are mostly on strike today).

I think I'd like a cuddle for Christmas. How about a practice?

Prrrrr.

Christmas Past

2011-11-28T12:08:00.001Z

Today's Christmas picture is from one of our previous trips to Walt Disney World. It wasn't the humans' first trip during December but it may have been the first one where they understood I am the star of the pictures (training them properly takes time). It was 1999. I don't know what camera they were using either (I'm cast, not crew!) but I'm pleased to know things have improved over the years.

I'm not quite sure where the picture was taken but the boat on the tree makes me think it is likely to be the lobby area of the Yacht Club.

Yes, this is from the time when I had lots more fur round my head and on my chest. I really think it's much better to be distinctive, individual, not just any Figaro, me, No.1.

But if you must feel sorry for me, you can always comfort me with a cuddle.

Prrrr.

Nearly 19

2011-11-27T17:48:00.001Z

Christmas is also my birthday. I suppose it's a sort of "official" birthday. It's the day when my "life" with my humans started: when Mikki gave me to Andrew. That was in 1992. I will be 19 this year. They keep teasing me that I'm getting old and losing my fur. 19 may be old for a real cat but surely it's nothing for a well cared for and loved toy (isn't it?).

My first picture was taken on December 26, 1992 and the second one in August this year.

The way I see it, this just shows that I am a well loved Figaro. It also means I am a one and only. It's like Woody having a stitched shirt and Andy's name on the sole of his boot. I am me. I am unique. Everyone knows it is me they meet in Walt Disney World. Accept No Imitations.

And not having lots of hair makes one look so distinguished - don't you think, Andrew?

It also means nobody need feel any hesitation in picking me up and cuddling me. .

Prrrr.

Oh Chdristmas Tree

2011-11-27T14:38:00.001Z

Here I am in the Villas (the DVC bit) at Wilderness Lodge. We like Wilderness Lodge any time (I think Andrew just likes places that are a bit darker) but the theming really fits with Christmas. When we have been there, it has almost always been very quiet and peaceful in these lounge areas downstairs at the Villas.

Today, it's beautifully sunny here in Lincolnshire: dry but windy and cold. I went out in the car with the humans while they were delivering something round the village for a friend. I like car rides so I can get cuddles from Andrew (Mikki is driving!). We came home and Mikki put on "Disney Cinemagique": Toy Story 3. I think it was towards the end but I don't know because Andrew turned my face away from the TV, covered my ears and gave me a lot of nice strokes. Later, it's "Tangled".

Oh, I found the recipe for the gingerbread house in my last post: 820 lbs of sugar; 135 lbs of butter; 1040 eggs; 150 lbs of chocolate chips; 470 lbs of flour; 2 lbs of baking soda. Bake in a very large oven (I could have guessed that bit).

I still think it's just as well toys don't eat. We don't need to go out and get exercise either.

Prrr.

Christmas Coming: The American Adventure

2011-11-26T09:16:00.001Z

Thanksgiving is over so I can think about the next holiday: Christmas. I've had lots of nice pctures taken with Christmas decorations in Walt Disney World so now I can share some of them with you.

Here I am in front of the gingerbread house in "The American Adventure" in Epcot. Its so big I guess you could really live in it (or, as happened, sell cakes and gingerbread from it). It did look rather edible but I suspect it wasn't really. And how would I know: I'm a toy cat. They have several sort of edible creations around WDW at Christmas time and these houses are about the simplest. I look good in pictures with all of them.

Prrrrr.

Happy Thanksgiving, U.S.A.

2011-11-24T08:25:00.001Z

My humans and I have been in the USA twice over Thanksgiving. It was quite good fun although, of course, it doesn't have the same meaning for toy kittens or British people. Anyway, I hope everyone in the US is enjoying the time with their families. I really don't mind if you haven't read this until a few days later!

The best picture I could think of for Thanksgiving is this one of me with Pocahontas. I hope nobody thinks this shows disrespect for - or even total ignorance of - American traditions. Disney are hardly famous for slavishly following facts or an original story but I don't think even they claimed Pocahontas was part of the first Thanksgiving. That owes more to my humans' love of the film "Addams Family Values" and the wonderful performance of Christina Ricci as Wednesday.

My humans learned more of the real traditions of Thanksgiving the year they decided to visit Wal-Mart the next day. Gosh, that was an experience!

Meanwhile, Mikki has continued preparations for our trip to WDW. Yesterday, she filled in the ESTA forms and got approval for the humans to enter the USA. Lucky for her they didn't ask difficult questions - like "Do you like Pumpkin Pie?".

Happy Thanksgiving.

Prrrr.

Duffy

2011-11-23T09:55:00.001Z

Christmas is coming (yes yes, US followers have to get Thanksgiving over first) and after Christmas I have got the humans to bring me back to Walt Disney World. So I thought it was high time to get myself in the mood by sharing a few more pictures of me with other Disney characters. Here is Duffy, The Disney Bear.

Duffy had a little pavilion of his own near the entrance to World Showcase. I think the idea was that he could tour the whole world without leaving Epcot!

Duffy was very nice and held me just right for the photo. The other great thing about Duffy (if I have got things right) is that he started off as a toy before he was a park character. That gave me an idea. If the Disney guys are still feeling reluctant about making a park character of Figaro the cat in Pinocchio (aka Minnie Mouse's cat), they can again model their character on a toy. I am ready and willing - and will be over there in January.

Prrrrrr.

Lake District Party

2011-11-17T13:50:00.001Z

We are just back home from the annual party in the English Lake District we have gone to for the last three years. The party itself ended on Monday but we went to visit Andrew's brother and mother before coming home.

The party is good fun with a lot of nice people (even if one or two of them made jokes about someone called "Postman Pat" when they saw me!). There are two big fancy dress evening parties and this year one of them was to the theme, "Toy Shop". Disney characters were allowed so a lot of people thought they could guess who Mikki would come as. She didn't because she had been Mickey Mouse last year for a "Hollywood" theme. She was a "Spacehopper".

As you can see, I was much more interested in who Andrew came as. He cleverly combined Disney Character with Toy by going not just as Figaro but as Toy Figaro: i.e. me. I went with him.

Doesn't he look cute? Come on give us both a cuddle.

Prrrrr.

Party Pictures

2011-11-03T14:21:00.000Z

I didn't go to my humans' Hallowe'en party but I did have a look round the house after they had got it decorated for the night. Here are a few pictures.

The tape was on the staircase and faced visitors as they came in the door. There was other tape - with a variety of messages - outside, wrapped round the gates and railings (yes, our house has some nice tall iron gates - just right for spooky).

Inside, two rooms were converted into "dungeons" by covering the walls to look like a dark stone chamber. They various skulls, chains and body parts were scattered about. Mikki decided not to bother showing you a picture in either of them.

Over the years they have been holding this party, the humans have collected quite a few items that not only look creepy but "do something". One is a cauldron that bubbles over with white mist. Another is this crystal ball. Make a noise near it and the head of an old crone lights up and cackles to you. The new one this year was a gargoyle. When you made a noise near him, "blood" spouted from his mouth. Meeowww.

Never forget my humans are Disney fans and they were in Walt Disney World about this time last year, so some of Mickey Mouse's "not so scary" items get in too.

Now it's November and all the decorations are down (until they get out the Christmas ones).

Next big event is our weekend in the English Lake District. One night there will be a fancy dress party with a theme of "Toys". I have decided to let Andrew go as me!

Prrrrr.

Hallowe'en on the Way

2011-10-27T15:11:00.001+01:00

Since we moved to this village, we have held a party at Hallowe'en three times. We missed last year (we were in Florida) so lots of friends have really been looking forward to this year's. Mikki has been adding to a collection that already includes skulls, spiders, broomsticks, a bubbling cauldron and a "crystal" ball with a a cackling crone's head inside.

Here I am being introduced to something made of black tinsel with lights in it that they are trying to tell me is cat! In fact, since taking the picture, they have bought another one that is even sillier: It has long teeth and makes nasty noises (like the cat Goofy steps on in the "Philharmagic" pre-show). At least it means they won't expect any of the Figaros to stand in as a black cat.

The party's on Saturday - a couple of days before the actual night - so we have two more days of decorating to go. I think I'll just relax on the bed until they have time to come and cuddle me.

Prrrrr.

Treasures from Warwick Event

2011-10-26T20:38:00.000+01:00

As you probably guessed, we did not come back from Disney Dave's event in Warwick empty handed. Here I am being expected to admire some pewter figures of Mickey Mouse.

The humans were pleased to have them. Mikki has some others but Disney do not seem to make or licence them these days. The particular ones came from Conventions in the late 1990s.

I really don't know why they get so excited. These are only ornaments - not toys. And there is not even a cat of any sort in any of them. Well, if it keeps the humans happy . ..

Prrrr

Disney Dave's Fall Event

2011-10-25T12:10:00.000+01:00

We have just come back from a fun weekend with our friends Dave and Carol at his fall (autumn) event in Warwick.

Dave and Carol used to run the shop, "Castle China" in Warwick. They had to give up the premises when the landlord got greedy but they still run the business over the internet and visit shows or hold special events of their own.

During the day, they had a few presentations and films as well as a raffle, auction and lots of time to drool over (or buy) the latest pieces. No Figaros, though. They had artwork of Pinocchio, Geppetto, and even the insect - but no Figaro (Meow)!

In the eveing the humans all went off to a restaurant to eat and enjoy themselves.

Here I am playing on an inflatable Mickey Mouse outside the meeting room. It's a good picture of my human, Andrew too, don't you think?

Prrrrrr.

Golden Dumbo

2011-10-05T11:26:00.000+01:00

Here's another of the pictures Andrew has put on the desktop of his new computer.

The picture was taken during our visit to California in 2005 - the golden anniversary of Disneyland park. For that year, they put gold coloured ride vehicles next to each of the attractions that was there on opening day. Here we are on Dumbo.

Neither Andrew nor I are too sure about the picture and it may not stay. Andrew fusses about it having a complicated background (the Dumbo ride). He prefers pictures with plain backgrounds so that the icons on his desktop show up well. I am more concerned at all the other cats in the picture. Sometimes, I like having little Travelling Beanie with us because he does the dangerous stunt pictures. If we had used the moving ride to do the picture on Dumbo's ear, then I might have offered it to him. Well, at least we all look like we're enjoying ourselves.

Prrrrr.

Hard At Work

2011-10-01T15:58:00.000+01:00

Yes, my human Andrew has a new computer and has decided it is time to take a picture of me at work at it. It's really quite silly. Apart from showing me in a very undignified position, it doesn't even show the new computer. He kept the old keyboard.

Well, for those people who want to know how I do all the typing, here it is. Sometimes I also dictate to one of the humans. When I do that, I always get the other one (Mikki) to check for spelling and other typing mistakes.

Back to more interesting subjects soon (I hope).

Prrrrr.

Warning: Human has New Computer

2011-09-25T12:59:00.000+01:00

Andrew has a new computer. He is very pleased with the box and associated hardware. He boutght it from a company called PC Specialist. Mikki got her present one from the same company so was able to recommend them.

One of the good points is that this company does not load up lots of software you don't want - so the processor works on things you want and the desktop is not cluttered with lots of silly icons. That leaves plenty of room for a nice background picture (or twenty) - which will lead me eventually to explaining today's photo.

The problem - as you probably guessed - is that a new PC means getting to grips with Windows 7. Andrew has poor eyesight and remembers how much time and effort it took him to get XP to produce a screen he could use. At least that experience prepared him to find the Windows 7 high contrast colour schemes approved by Microsoft would not suit him. He had not been prepared for Microsoft changing the features of the "Magnifier" so that it will no longer work the way he liked. Mikki even went onto a Microsoft help forum to ask a question. Eventually, someone from Microsoft replied acknowledging Windows 7 can't do what Andrew was used to, suggested we buy third party software, and helpfully added a total disclaimer of liability!

Meanwhile, Andrew has had some fun with setting up pictures to run in sequence on his Desktop. I am pleased that I was able to help with some suggestions. Here is one of the pictures he put up.

We were visiting Andrew's family in Yorkshire when this was taken. We had a trip out to a place called Fountains Abbey. These are the largest abbey ruins in England and a World Heritage Site. This shot was taken in the associated water gardens known as Studley Royal. They were built in the georgian period and include lots of lovely statues, mock classical temples and so on.

Yes, you can see the Humans made me stand in the dirt for this picture. This was a few years ago. I don't think I would allow that now.

I can think of other nice pictures Andrew could put on his computer. Perhaps I will share them with you too.

Meanwhile Andrew, take it steady and we will work things out for you. Calm down. Relax. Give your toy kitten a cuddle. Prrrrrr

Bye Bye Magic

2011-09-21T15:38:00.001+01:00

It's time to say goodbye to our latest cruise on Disney Magic - and what better image that one of me with Mickey and Minnie Mouse latken on the last day!

They were, of course, both delighted to see me. I am sure Minnie recognised me immediately. She gave me a nice cuddle.

We spent one more day in Barcelona before flying home. England in September is rather cooler than the Mediterranean in August but I don't mind really (I stay on the bed most of the time). Mikki is already looking forward to her next trip to Walt Disney World - in January. She has been making dining reservations.

Prrr.

Still At Sea

2011-09-18T13:05:00.002+01:00

We are getting close to the end of our cruise and I thought I should mention our cabin - where we did spend a lot of our time. Here I am with Mikki on the balcony.
We had a very nice lady looking after our cabin. She was very helpful with things like getting the humans glasses for their wine. She was eagle-eyed to see us leave and tidy up the room as soon as she could. She also left lots of lovely animals made out of the towels. The humans took some photos of some of them but I'm not in them.

At the end of the cruise, my humans were happy to give our "stateroom host" more than the recommended gratuity. They also did this for the hard working assistant server in the restaurants. The same could not be said of the server himself, and especially of the Head Server. I don't think they wee too happy about paying him at all but I can't say much because I didn't go into the restaurants for the evening meals.

Since we are coming towards the end, I thought I would make my other picture one of Walt Disney himself outside the Walt Disney Theatre.

Prrrr.

At Sea with the Pirates

2011-09-15T09:18:00.004+01:00

The pictures were taken during our "day at sea" after Disney Magic left Italy. The first one is when I got Captain Jack Sparrow to hold me. He has never been willing to do this in Walt Disney World. When we have met him there, he has had some of his pirate crew with him and ordered one of them to perform this task. I think my Mikki persuaded him this time by claiming that she had stolen me from Minnie Mouse - so I qualified as a pirate cat!
The other picture was taken the same day near the shops.

I will soon have reported most of the highlights of the cruise and get back to what has happened since. Sadly, I may be unable to post for a few days because Andrew is getting a new computer and it is his I use for the Blog. This means that both he and I are going to have to learn how to set up and use the new one. I expect quite a few days of frustration and upset before Andrew gets things as he would like them. Only then will he let me near the new machine. Meanwhile, I will have to let him give me cuddles to calm him down. How fortunate for him he has such a delightful little toy cat.

By the way, Mikki didn't steal me from Minnie Mouse: she bought me from the Disney Store in Liverpool. I am a Toy!!

Somewhere in Italy

2011-09-05T16:30:00.003+01:00

Here is a picture of my humans, Mikki and Andrew, taken during their big day out from our cruise.

The picture was taken by a friend during their trip to Sorento and Pompeii. I don't really know where they were exactly - because I wasn't there! I was a little disappointed. After all, "Figaro" is an italian name and my feature film was set in Italy even if it was entirely made in a studio in southern California (also, Figaro, it was set in northern Italy and we were near Naples, southern Italy).

The humans went on to walk round the ruins of the Roman town of Pompeii. Some other friends have sent messages saying they hoped I hadn't been taken there because I might have got dusty and had to have another bath!! Meeoww! So perhaps all was well in the end.

The humans said they enjoyed Pompeii a lot.

After that, it was back on the Disney Magic for a day at sea before stopping at Palma and then returning to Barcelona.

Food on the Cruise

2011-09-01T17:29:00.005+01:00

Here I am in Lumiere's, which was probably my humans' favourite restaurant (of the main three - Palo is in a class of its own). This had nothing to do with the dinner service but it was the one they went to most for breakfast or lunch.

For dinners, my humans shared a table with three nice couples from the USA. Over the week, they all learned the trick of taking a glass of wine in with you to avoid paying Disney prices. One even managed to fit a whole bottle of wine into two glasses!

The humans had a man as their server and a nice hard working lady assistant with a cute french sounding name. The server took the orders each evening. At the end of the cruise, my humans adjusted the recommended gratuities to reflect who they thought had done the work. The assistant got more than the server. Andrew wondered how many of the serving teams had the man as the "boss" and a woman assistant. Mikki looked around and thought there were quite a lot. I wonder how many people have been on cruises where they had females in charge and male assistants.

Getting a good cup of coffee was difficult. The first day, the humans got room service to deliver early morning coffee and orange juice. The coffee tasted like it had been on the stove all night! The orange juice was poorly mixed concentrate. For the rest of the cruise, the coffee was just very weak. The orange stayed the same.

Here I am outside Cove Cafe. Andrew had one cup of coffee he liked here but somehow it was never the same when he asked again. Wasn't he glad to get ashore in Italy! I was happy relaxing with him anywhere.

Seriously, all this didn't matter much. I can survive on cuddles alone.

Prrrr

Cruising with Character

2011-08-30T15:44:00.005+01:00

We were on a Disney cruise so naturally there were often Disney characters about. I got to play with some and I also had some pictures. The first to play with me was Pluto. My humans and I had recently boarded and he was waving down to other arrivals from the deck above the entrance. He broke off to play with me a little. I am always a little careful with Pluto. He is a d*g; he has a history of chasing my character and he has put me in his mouth before now. This time, he was very good and gentle.

We didn't get a picture of Pluto but here are a couple of those we did. These two pictures were both taken in the Atrium and on the same day.

The first picture is from my own feature film and I am with the little wooden boy and the insect. Pinnocchio recognised me at once and was very happy to see me. He gave me a nice cuddle. Prr. Prr. The ship's newsletter for the day said it was quite rare for Jiminy to make an appearance so I suppose it was nice to have a picture of them together.

In my other picture, I am with Lilo and Stitch. Stitch was also very good and gentle but I was glad Lilo didn't let go of me. I had seen Stitch playing around with some of his other visitors.

The atrium was a nice place to have pictures taken but it wasn't the only spot on the ship. I had some taken on the next deck up in various locations and one even up by the family pool - I was very brave to go near the water even if it was to see Chip and Dale!

Prrrr.

DVC Gift

2011-08-28T14:02:00.003+01:00

The Disney Vacation Club had a strong pressence on our cruise. Lots of the passengers were members - including several on my humans' dinner table. There was also a prominent sales desk (Where in Disney isn't there?).

DVC sent its members a gift. In the picture, I'm looking at the one sent to humans. It was a rather nice, solidly made box full of goodies. There were lanyards (again, what aren't there lanyards for in Disney?), there were pens and there was lots of sales literature.

The box was solidly made. My humans were not the only couple at their table who were upset at the idea of what to do with it. They didn't want it; they hadn't asked for it; and they had no reason to take it home. But they didn't want to waste it by throwing it away. After a few days thought, they did the obvious thing. They gave it back.

Prrr.

Different Things

2011-08-25T09:34:00.003+01:00

There are lots of things for the humans to do on a ship like "Disney Magic" - even when they are not looking for characters for me to have a picture with! And the great thing is that the two of them can do different things.

On our first day out of Barcelona, Andrew and I relaxed on comfy deck chairs (Andrew reading) while Mikki went ashore to see Monte Carlo. Here are some pictures. Andrew took the one of me but I don't know who took the one of Mikki.

Andrew liked relaxing and reading on the quiet shaded deck (Deck 4). The chairs were quite comfortable. It was also a good job so few of them were being used because lots and lots of them were broken. They were alright for lying on but if you tried to adjust them to a more upright position (as for reading), most of them collapsed on you without warning. Fortunately, of course, this didn't worry me.

Mikki saw a motor car museum and the "changing of the guard" at the prince's palace. I don't think that was up to Buckingham Palace standards and I am not sure my humans want to admit they lived over 20 years in London and never saw that. In the picture, she's standing above the yacht harbour. Monte Carlo is a place where you really need your yacht to be very expensive! Toy cats are a lot more ecomonic - and in my view much more rewarding.

Prrrr.

All Aboard

2011-08-24T09:52:00.005+01:00

Here are my first pictures from the Disney Magic. Anyone who's been aboard will recognise the statue as the one in the main atrium (where you come aboard) outside "Lumiere's" restaurant. For anyone who only knows "Disney Wonder", it is where that ship has Ariel's statue.

I'm not sure I liked the statue that much. Mickey's costume reminded me (and my humans) of the "SS Totally Sinkable" on the effects tour there used to be in the Studios. That's hardly the image you want for a cruise.

Towards the end of the cruise, we met three captains in one day: Mckey Mouse, Jack Sparrow and a human called Marco. I think he's the one who really commands the ship but I didn't go with the humans to meet him. My second picture is with captain Mickey. Look, he's giving me a nice little stroke.

Yes, I got one with Jack Sparrow too - but you'll have to wait for that.

Prrrrr.

Barcelona

2011-08-23T10:38:00.002+01:00

We are back from our holicay (vacation) and I can start to tell you all about it.

We had a few days in Barcelona first. The humans took a half day tour and then visited a few highlights. They most liked the "Casa Batllo", an amazing house designed by Gaudi. They even tried learning to say "please" and "thank you" in catalan.

We were lucky with the location of our hotel - quite close to the main streets and itself in a lovely (and recently created) square. The humans enjoyed eating at several of the many good value restaurants. I was content to get this picture sitting on a large sculpture in the square.

We were in Barcelona for 5 nights before joining "Disney Magic".

Cruising to Come

2011-08-03T09:40:00.002+01:00

Here's a picture taken in our stateroom on our last Disney cruise. Obviously, the pose has been specially arranged. We were normally on the bed or sofa.
I think we have a very similar stateroom on our next cruise. Mikki has told us that the room is the same size. The main differences are that there is a slightly restricted view - and that it costs less because the restricted view was enough to get it downgraded to a cheaper category. I said it costs less. What I meant is it would have cost less if we had paid for our cruise the previous time. My Mikki won that cruise. She's really very lucky. She also found the cutest toy kitten in the world. Perhaps she's very clever too!

Prrrr.

Bath Day

2011-08-01T12:01:00.003+01:00

"Bath Day" is one of my favourite Disney classic shorts. That's hardly surprising. It is one of very few where Figaro was the star and it reminds you that Figaro does appear as a star in his own right. That's very rare for characters other than the "Fab Five" of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy.

Figaro is just like most real cats: he does not like having a bath one little bit. And I am true to my character because I don't like it either. But it is something my humans sometimes insist on before we go on holiday (vacation). I have to admit I do come out looking cleaner and that makes my pictures look even better.

The picture shows Floppy cat and me waiting to dry after coming out of our bath. it takes about a day to dry out fully. That's a day without a really good cuddle!!!

Oh, behind us you can see another of my humans' pictures. This one's not of Figaro but of the pesky pixie, Tinker Bell. You can see it has two signatures: of Allison Lefcort (the artist) and of Tinker Bell herself, Margaret Kerry. We met Margaret a few years ago in Warwick and she signed the picture for us. She was really nice.

Once I am dry from my bath, Mikki helps me look even smarter. I am very glad to report my Mikki does not treat me in anything like the way Minnie Mouse treats Figaro. No bow; No perfume. My Mikki does do a little repair work on my nose and eyes after the bath because the water can wash away a little of the black.

The best thing about the bath is that it means the Disney trip is not far away. Prrr.

More Furniture - and a Picture

2011-07-30T08:44:00.002+01:00

No sooner were my humans back from London than Andrew had to start building another piece of flat-pack furniture. Andrew is very nice (he cuddles me - and sometimes he helps me with my typing) but he is definitely a human when it comes to flat-pack furniture. I had to offer him calming cuddles through the day. I'm very generous like that.

By the end of the day, as we expected, he had calmed down a bit and decided the instructions had lots of mistakes. But we did have a new chest of drawers where (almost) all the pieces fitted. He now has more space for his clothes.

The new chest is taller than the one he had before so I can have my photo taken on it and you get a good view or the picture on the wall behind me. It is an original production cel from Pinocchio. Naturally, it features the star of the film - Figaro the cat - doing what cats like best - going to sleep in the most comfortable place in the house. In this case it was his human Geppetto's bed. Figaro looks a little cross in this scene. He is being kept awake by a silly little wooden boy continually asking, "Why?". Why did Geppetto get so attached to that puppet when he had a lovely little black and white cat?

Just over a week to go now before we set off to Barcelona. In two weeks, we will be on Disney Magic. Mikki has been watching a DVD about Disney Cruise Line just to get her in the mood.

Prrrrr.

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, Where Have You Been?

2011-07-29T21:25:00.003+01:00

Nowhere!!

The humans went to London but didn't take me. They weren't going to look at the Queen, but they were going to Buckingham Palace to look at the Duchess of Cambridge's wedding dress.

Really, it wasn't that much of a "Meeoww" that they didn't take me. There is no photography inside the Palace so I wouldn't have got any pictures there.

The humans were quite impressed - although Mikki couldn't help thinking the dress looked better when on the bride. It was easy to see a lot of the detail. Apart from the dress itself, there was a sample of the lacework which you could get up close to (it was under glass) so even Andrew got some idea of how much work had gone into it. They saw the nice shoes Catherine wore and a silk representation of the bouquet.

The wedding cake was on display in another room. According to the notice by it, only the top three tiers have been removed (the third tier being the one eaten at the reception). They had been replaced by decorated dummies but for the rest, the humans were looking at the real thing. I wonder what will happen to it.

There was also an exhibition of Faberge items owned by the Queen. As well as some of the famous eggs, there was a great range of other things that amazed them - including flowers and animals. There was a elephant, a racehorse, and a d*g. They didn't mention seeing a cat. Well, you can't have everything.

In the picture, I'm looking at some of the things they brought back: a hand towel, a loving cup and some postcards. There was nothing special for me but I'm happy about that, I'm just glad to have them back to give me a cuddle. They were away for less than 10 hours.

Prrrrrr.

Another Figaro

2011-07-24T10:31:00.003+01:00

We have an addition to the family. Here he is with me in our living room.

Almost as soon as we got back from Wales and Warwick, we were off to Harrogate (Andrew's home town) to help his mother. She is now 88 years old (which is even older than my character) and has recently had to move into a care home. She didn't like the ones she tried in Harrogate but seems very happy in one further north near Andrew's brother. She was visiting Harrogate to say "goodbye" to friends still there. She also chose some things from the flat (apartment) to take with her. This meant some tough choices - and one who didn't get to go was her toy Figaro - who she had called, "Mischief".

There's a good reason why he looks like "Floppy". As soon as Andrew's mother saw Floppy she demanded one of her own. Floppy came from Florida but fortunately they were selling the same design of Figaro in the Disney Store in London at the time. So another Figaro joined the Young extended family. We have promisd him a good home. At least he can be reassured that he is now with people who know his Disney heritage. He definitely hasn't seen anything like as many Mickey Mouses around him up to now.

This means that both Floppy and I now have two "brothers" in the house. The humans sometimes tease us that the brothers are there in case we get too worn or dirty. I suppose I have to humour them but it can get tiring. How many times do I have to tell them, "Nobody's getting replaced".

Now I'm just looking forward to my cruise with Mickey and friends (and the humans).

Prrrr.

Characters - but not Disney

2011-07-23T18:41:00.001+01:00

Time to finish the chat about our trip to Wales and Warwick. Here I am with somee people I met inside Warwick Castle.

You can probably recognise the man at the top. He is one of the most famous characters in English history - King Henry VIII. I am not sure who the lady is but there were five others standing around too. I don't think all six ever got together like that in real life. Yes, these characters weren't even people - just waxwork statues.

The other two spoke to us and gave me a little cuddle. They introduced themselves as the Earl and Countess of Warwick. They were from the Greville family - who I think may be still the Earls of Warwick (although they have sold the castle). This couple are dressed like they are from the 1700s

My human Andrew, who has been doing some research, says the Earldom of Warwick is unusual. The title has died out 3 times (and so had to be recreated by the King - if and when he wanted). So there have been 4 men who were "1st Earl". The most famous Earl of Warwick - "The Kingmaker" - was the 16th Earl and lived in the 1400s but the present Earl is only the 9th Earl. It's confusing for a toy cat. I am "No. 1" Figaro in our house.

You can imagine I was glad to get back to our lovely guest house - which is right at the castle gate. They know how to treat cuddly toys there. All the rooms have teddy bears in them and the bear has the same name as the room. We stayed in/with Francis. Of course, I had to tell Francis about who shares the bed with my humans but there was no trouble.

OK, is that enough? I'm nearly up to date. Can I have a cuddle now?

Prrrr.

A Castle - but not Disney

2011-07-20T12:54:00.003+01:00

Here I am at Warwick Castle on our way home from Wales. The tower behing me is called Guy's Tower (I don't know why). It was built around 1350. A lot of the castle is even older. For readers in North America, it is all a long time before Columbus.

Yes, it's a real castle. That's solid stone behind me, It isn't a fibre-glass fairytale castle. It isn't even a 19th century fake built by a mad king that Walt Disney is said to have used as a model (that one's in Germany anyway). It's a real medieval castle built to protect one of the most important nobles in the country. The narrow slits in the tower were for archers to shoot arrows. The overhanging bit at the top was to protect the defenders while they poured all sorts of nasty stuff on the people outside. During the Wars of the Roses, the then Earl of Warwick was known as "The Kingmaker" because of the number of kings he had arranged to have replaced one way or another.

Look, I'm only a toy cat. I'm not supposed to know all this serious stuff but Andrew likes to do research for me sometimes and gets upset if I ignore all of it.

Actually, inside this one is not that different from a Disney castle. There are people wandering round in constume. Oh, and there are lots of overpriced food stands and attractions with supplementary charges too!

I think I have some more pictues somewhere. I'll look them out.

It was fun.

Still in Wales

2011-07-19T15:11:00.005+01:00

Here, as sort of promised, are a couple more pictures in Wales. These were taken while I was outside enjoying the sunshine. One shows the hotel itself - called Llangoed Hall - and the other looks away from the hotel towards the River Wye. My humans really enjoyed the room, food and service.

I enjoyed having pictures taken. It's a lot easier when the weather is good and I don't have to search forever to find something clean and dry to stand on (apart from one of the humans' hands).

Prrrrr.

Lovely Hotel in Wales

2011-07-17T10:59:00.004+01:00

It's lovely to tell people about my trips away - even when they aren't related to Disney (can you believe that?). We are just back from two trips away. The first included a weekend in a really luxurious country house hotel in Wales. What is more, the accommodation was free. My clever human Mikki won a competition on the website of the famous British chef, Delia Smith.

The top picture is of our bedroom. I'm sorry you can't see me too well but Mikki insisted I included as much of the bed and room as possible. All of the rooms were elegant and made the humans imagine they were staying as guests in a country mansion. As you may guess from the picture below (yes, I've learned how to upload more than one picture) Mikki even decided to play a little snooker. The windows looked out on a beautiful view of the river Wye. I've got some other pictures outside and may show you.

The humans say the food was also excelent. They had breakfast included but decided to have dinner too.

Prrrrrr.

Happy Cruising

2011-07-08T09:03:00.003+01:00

When I told you that the cruise information we received included details of what to do at Port Canaveral, I decided it was an excuse to show you my humans' favourite picture from our last (and only other) Disney cruise. Here we are on Castaway Cay with the ship (Disney Wonder) in the background. I guess everyone who has been on a cruise like ours has a picture like this - Disney are very good at finding and creating photo spots - but here is ours.

There is a little story to go with it. We were not in the first rush to get off the boat so when we arrived at this photo spot there was no line. Mickey was waiting for us. He became quite excited - and not just from meeting me! From his gestures, we worked out he was telling us he recognised my humans too. Andrew wasn't surprised because we had met him on the ship a few times. No, that wasn't it. He moved his hands round in a circle and we guessed it was the world - Walt Disney World. No, not good enough! The hand signals got more excited and a line started to form as he kept trying to get his message across. Eventually, his "minder" intervened to ask if there was a problem. We all felt rather stupid when the "minder" explained the round thing Mickey was showing us was Spaceship Earth. He was telling us he had met us at Epcot.

Our last cruise had some very memorable and happy moments like this one. I hope we get a few more on the next one.

We're all off to Wales for the weekend now. The weather forecast says it is going to be wet. Not (quite) as hard as Florida in a summer thunderstorm but a good bit cooler. At least we are staying in what looks like a very nice country house hotel so I'm hoping for a few more nice pictures.

Prrrrrrr.

New Desk

2011-07-05T13:11:00.003+01:00

As soon as he had assembled the chair for Mikki, Andrew set about the task of making a new computer desk. This one was for the computer in his own room. Assembling flat pack furniture is a rather different proposition from taking a chair out of its box so we toys were on alert for a human who would need lots of calming hugs. Well, here it is finished and hardly one scream of frustration!

It looks like Andrew has taken this picture rather carefully so you can't see any of the other things he has in his room. Perhaps I will be able to persuade him to take some other photos soon. I'm specially sorry he hasn't shown you the picture that is on the wall just a little to the right of this view. It is actually a production cell from Walt Disney's second full length animated feature film. You know, the one that for some reason is named after one of the minor characters - a wooden puppet called Pino-something. The cel in question is of the more important character, the black and white cat. In it, Figaro is in his human's bed. There's a message here and I am pleased to say my humans have got it.

Oh, by the way, Mikki has now opened and read the exciting package of cruise information that came from Disney yesterday. There are a couple of luggage tags and lots of useful information about boarding the ship - at Port Canaveral. I hope someone has told the Captain that he is due to pick us up in Barcelona!

Today, we have been out looking for fancy dress for a party the humans are going to later in the year. The theme is "toys". The humans have been talking about making giant dice or playing cards. Then they went to a fancy dress shop and looked for characters like Woody and Buzz. They could simply look round their own house and see which toys are the most popular: Mickey Mouse, Tinker Bell and, of course, Figaro.

Prrrr.

New Chair

2011-07-04T16:48:00.003+01:00

We have a new chair for sitting at one of our computers. That's it in the picture. It swivels and tilts and has memory foam in the cushion. I didn't think too much to it myself: after all, I'm not big enough to make it tilt and I already have memory foam on the bed, so I will be happy to stay there most of the time.

Mikki has bought the chair for her study. You may be able to tell it is her room from the large number of mice in the background. They are all very well behaved (they are almost all Mickey: somehow one or two Minnies got in too but I keep them all pretty well under control).

Mikki says the chair is very comfortable for her. Andrew says it makes her look very smart and managerial. You can't see the desk and computer in this picture (the camera is below the desk) but you can probably work out that I could never reach the keyboard from this new chair. This is OK. I am training the humans up to accept dictation so that I don't need to type the blogs myself any more. So why shouldn't they be comfortable?

Oh, by the way, some cruise papers arrived in the post (mail) today.

Prrrr.

Cruise Preparations Continue

2011-06-29T09:22:00.003+01:00

A final bit of updating at the end of the month. Mikki has been trying to make more arrangements for our cruise.

Something the humans have been looking forward to is dinner at Palo. On their previous cruise, they ate at Palo on their third, and final, evening. It was doubly enjoyable - both because of the wonderful food and service they had there and because they didn't have to face another night with the serving staff in the main restaurants. This time, they have got a booking on Wednesday - the fifth of their seven nights. I am sure they are still looking forward to the food and service there and they are hoping they will not have the same problems with the servers elsewhere.

Mikki has also been telling me about all sorts of silliness with a new booking system Disney have set up. It seems anyone who paid for their Mediterranean cruise in currency other than US dollars can't book some things in advance. I don't understand the details (I know the humans will look after me - won't you) but I think Mikki has also found clever things to do too (she is, you know).

I am sure there will be one more thing about this cruise. Once again, I am not in the picture. Mikki had the strange idea that she could carry my little "stunt kitten" Travelling Beanie with her for her smart evening out but that I had to stay in he cabin. Yes, he may have found it easier to balance on the letters than I could but I expect my humans to be more imaginative by now and find a way to take me with them. I'm looking forward to a lovely time.

Next time, I have to find a picture for you with me in it.

Prrrrr.

My Other Car is, well, pretty useless really

2011-06-26T12:55:00.003+01:00

We have got the car back from the body shop. Mikki is very pleased for lots of reasons. The car is nicely repaired and looks as good as new (just about). The whole saga of the bump is over - and her own insurance company have not been bothered at all by a job that cost something like £2,500 (that would be over $4,000).

One of the things we are all glad about is that we have got rid of the courtesy car we were loaned while ours was in the shop. It was supposed to be similar. It was a Honda Jazz automatic (Jazz is the model name in the UK) and less than a year old. It still had a nice place for me to sit. The problem was the gearbox/automatic control. The man who delivered the car said it was a new type of automatic Honda had introduced but Mikki was delighted they seem to have gone back to the old one by the time she bought her car. This one jumped and shuddered its way through the gears like a novice driver with a manual gear change. It couldn't pull away smartly from a halt and took ages to build up speed. That's quite a worry when you have a turn out into a main road like there is from our village. Anyway, we had the courtesy car for just over a week and now it is gone. It was pretty useless really.

With her own car back, Mikki had another disappointment. She had (what she thought was) a vinyl window cling from Walt Disney World saying "My Other Car is a Monorail". That's it in the photo. Now the idea of window clings is that you put them on the inside of the window so people can read them on the outside but they don't get rubbed off by weather, car washes and so on. Mikki forgot that Disney likes to do things its own way. When we started to get it out, we discovered this one is sticky on the back. It goes on the outside of the window. So within a couple of washes parts of it are damaged. This means you have to buy another sticker (perhaps Disney's plan) or have a damaged and marked car. Or probably both! The sticker is now destined for the trash. Pretty useless again, I'm afraid.

Still, we have our own car back and we all love it. So why bother about another car at all. Just give me a little cuddle and all is fine.

Prrrr.

Up To Date - June

2011-06-21T16:35:00.003+01:00

Here is another picture of something we did recently. Earlier this month, we all went for a weekend in the English Lake District. It was a family get together for Andrew's family.

The weather was warm, sunny and dry the whole weekend and Mikki was able to take lots of pretty photographs in the garden like this one. Well, she tells me it's very pretty but I can't help thinking there's something missing: a nice foreground subject of a black and white kitten perhaps? Yes, I was there for this trip but, again, I have no picture of me for the Blog.

Andrew's mother is now 88 years old and is not as mobile as she once was. So the family chose this hotel because there were comfortable lounges with views of water and hills, and fine food. She seemed to enjoy herself a lot - which made everyone happy.

Since then, the humans and I have been back in our village and getting busy with things there. Andrew is involved in a couple of committees. Mikki has just run a quiz. Meanwhile, she has been booking up accommodation for our trip to Walt Disney World next January. It's seven months away so she can book rooms at DVC locations other than our home one (Old Key West - which they have wrecked). Fortunately, she got what she wanted so we know we will be splitting the time between Kidani at Animal Kingdom Lodge and Bay Lake Tower.

Now, where can I find some better pictures for you?

Prrrr.

Getting Up To Date - May

2011-06-20T10:02:00.003+01:00

I'm sorry I haven't been putting up messages. I can guess how much everyone has missed me. The humans have been quite busy but here we go now.

In May, the humans went to see Mikki's birth family in Bermuda. They say it was a lovely time in terms of weather and meeting the family generally but there was a note of sadness because Mikki's father is very ill. It is probably the last time she will see him. The other sadness is that I didn't go. Mikki had to make do cuddling my cousin Floppy Figaro, as the photo shows.

Actually, the photo was not taken in Bermuda but at the hotel at Gatwick Airport where they stayed before going. Mikki took a deal to get a guaranteed price for an upgraded room if it wasn't otherwise taken. It turned out that the room that wasn't taken was a rather splendid suite. I could have shown you pictures of the sliding doors leading from the sitting room to the bedroom, the jacuzzi bath and so on. But instead I thought you should at least see a cuddly toy Figaro.

Another update soon.

A Great Success

2011-05-06T11:06:00.005+01:00

Our trip to the Disney Fan Meeting in Birmingham was a great success.

From the start, Mikki was pleased to see that hers was the only sales stand selling general Disney memorabilia. She was also pleased to see that our friends Dave and Carol of "Disney Dave" were also there. We knew they were not sponsoring the whole event this year but they did have a stand.

Indeed, they booked three tables. Some other people had two but Mikki had only paid for one. As you can see from the picture, it was starting to get a little crowded as we put things out. Fortunately, we were in a corner at the end of the row so we could also use a second small table we had brought of our own. You can just see the end of it to the right of the picture.

We had a great variety of things. Many remained in crates that customers had to rummage through to find something. On the second day (Sunday) we could get more out as things were sold from the table.

Yes, one of the crates did have some Beanies in it. My teasing humans even put me in that crate and took a picture!! Of course, they didn't mean it. Let me assure all my fans that I was safe in the bedroom long before the stall opened for business.

Mikki was thrilled - if a little overwhelmed - to find her table the centre of attantion as soon as the doors opened. It looks like my humans had a reputation from last year. Trading pins were particular popular. Mikki herself only traded once: to get a lovely pin of Figaro. Isn't she nice? Over the weekend collectors went away with quite a few unusual items - many at real bargain prices. Things that had been languishing in our garage now have new homes with other Disney enthusiasts. As well as clearing space in the garage, my humans covered their costs of the weekend (including the cost of what they bought from "Disney Dave")

Mikki also thought the actual events of the Meet were better than lat year.

Overall, a great success - if a little tiring. You can all relax now and cuddle your toy cat. Prrrr.

Play Nicely

2011-04-28T14:30:00.003+01:00

Tomorrow, we set off for the weekend Disney fan convention in Birmingham so the humans have been getting together all the Disney things they are willing to sell. There are lots of storage crates scattered about the house being filled up. Here's one in the picture.

Yes, the humans could not help trying to tease me by putting me in the box for sale. I am pleased to report I only spent a few minutes there while Andrew took my picture. After that, he gave me a reassuring cuddle and put me back on the bed.

After a lot of thought, I have decided I will go in the car with the humans to the sale. They will be away for several days and they need me. Also, I can get some interesting photos even if I don't go near the Convention itself.

I think we have lots of interesting things and hope they find good homes. You can see our Mickey Mouse telephone in the picture. We don't use it now but it is very cute/ Mickey's voice takes the place of a bell. He says things like, "Oh Boy! A phone call." and "I wonder who it could be". Surely, this is a treasure for a true Disney fan.

But no, as of writing, there are no Figaroes - not even pictures of Figaro - in the sale. The humans must have been trying to tease me all the time. Come on kids, play nicely. And give me another cuddle.

Doctor Who

2011-04-24T12:13:00.003+01:00

In case anyone didn't know, Disney has not always been my humans' only passion. Doctor Who was as childhood favourite of both of them and the show returned this weekend.

So, here is a picture of me getting out of our TARDIS. That's my cousin, Big Softy (because he is bigger and softer than me) on top. He has spent most of his time siting on the TARDIS - so much so that the humans sometimes refer to it as "his".

The TARDIS is actually a video cabinet (yes, it goes back to the days of VHS tapes). Andrew used to tell visitors that it could hold a thousand tapes. If anyone looked like they might believe him, he would add, "and that's just in the first room". It used to have videos in it - both Doctor Who ones and Disney ones. Now the tapes have almost all been replaced by DVDs (stored elsewhere) and there is a mixture of things in it. Among them are actually two Daleks.

My humans, like many of their generation, reveal their age mot clearly when asked who (from the "classic" series) was their Doctor. Andrew's was William Hartnell and Mikki's was Jon Pertwee. So she grew up with the original appearances of that great assistant, Sarah Jane Smith. So any celebration over the return of the tv show this week has been totally overshaddowed by the news of the death of Elisabeth Sladen, the actress who played Sarah Jane. My humans had really loved her new series - even if it was supposed to be directed at children. It seemed to have much of the magic of their old, "classic" Doctor Who. Also, they could not help saying Elisabeth Sladen looked better and better with the years. Sadly, cancer is no respector of age.

Oh dear. This is sad. I need a cuddle.

Disneyana Sale

2011-04-01T11:52:00.004+01:00

My humans are going to a Disney fan convention this month and have booked a table where they can sell things. This is the second year the convention has been run and they sold some things last year. Yes, this is not a joke! My humans have actually sold some of their Disney stuff - and enough to think it is worth repeating with even more items of the sort that were popular last year.

Well, it is true that even after moving from London to a much bigger house, there are still crates full of Disney mementos in the garage. These include some really interesting pieces, like the cutouts they got out at Christmas after the flood (see my "Saved from the Flood" post on 17th January).

The problem is that the humans have been getting rather more enthusiastic. They have started looking through things in the house. Mikki has been going through her books of trading pins and finding quite a few she is willing to sell. The really worringing thing is when she started talking about some of the toys. Ornaments, books and trading pins are one thing but toys are totally different. It has even reached the stage of saying some of my family could go. Yes, most of them don't do much apart from sitting about in the guest bedroom but they are family. We have had pictures taken together like this one of us watching one of our favourite classic cartoons.

That's me on the cushion in the middle of the armchair. Standing near the footstool a little apart from the others, you should see "No.2", the one who has lived here longest apart from me. He is a similar design except that his eyes are different and he hasn't been cuddled nearly as much so he still has lots of fur round his head. We call him "Fiery Figaro" because his eyes make him look cross. He also still has a tag on him so the humans say he is more saleable.

This is serious stuff. All this talk started yesterday so it is not "April Fool". I am just trying to treat it that way to stop it going too far. The humans claim that - like Woody and Buzz - we will all have to move on sometime and if it is at a Disney fan convention there is a better chance of going to a good home. I don't think my fellow Figaros are convinced.

I think I will start posting lots of pictures of things I am prepared to sell. Tinker Bell, where are you?

New Car

2011-03-31T21:08:00.003+01:00

My humans took delivery of a new car today. It is very smart and has a special place where I can stand. It is actually the same type as their previous car. The make is Honda and the model is Jazz (at least that's what they call it in the UK: it may have a different model name elsewhere). There have been a few improvements over the years. There is a little round space in front of the passenger seat where a toy cat can stand; there is one of those hybrid engines for fuel ecomony; and there are lots of new electronics. And did I mention the special place where I could stand . . .

The salesman wanted to take a picture and here it is (or part of it: for some reason the salesman wanted to get the whole car in the original!). I even got out of my special place to stand and stood up at the front so you can see me clearly in the picture.

It's nice to see my humans are both wearing Disney sweats. Mikki has a DVC Member one and Andrew a Cruise Line one (the logo on his is a bit smaller). They bought both - at different times - at the Disney outlets. Mikki felt quite irritated that they were selling DVC "member only" merchandise at the outlet - but at least she got the advantage of it.

We had a very smooth ride home. It is only the first day but I am sure the car will be a great success.

I like car rides with my humans.

Preparing for January

2011-03-30T11:36:00.003+01:00

Mikki has started to feel WDW withdrawal symptoms! Yes, we have a cruise this summer, but she needs her Florida fix too. The humans prefer to go when it is not too hot and not too busy (when it can also be cheaper in DVC points). January can be a good time so Mikki started thinking about January 2012. For many years, this would have meant that she made the most of her 11 month priority and we would have the accommodatiohn at Old Key West booked by now. Mikki used to do this before bookings for flights became available but was pretty confident she could change the accommodation dates if necessary.

This year, it's quite different. "11 months out" has come and gone and there has been no call to Member Services. Flights are, however, booked. We have some thoughts about where we would like to be - but Old Key West has struck itself off the list.

I'll hope to find a picture of where we are going when we know but so far I can only offer this one of happier times at Old Key West (notice there was carpet). That's me with my travelling companions of Floppy cat and Travelling Beanie and a couple of friends who came back with us. They have lived in Mikki's study since then.

Prrrr.

Lotso

2011-03-17T11:19:00.005Z

My humans are (well, Mikki is) starting to think more about Disney holidays so I thought it was time to remember some more of the characters from our last trip to Florida. Here I am with Lotso (or is it Lots-O as in "Lots-O'-Huggin"). He was in the Animation Building at the Studios.

Yes, he is rather big isn't he? He is only supposed to be a toy bear so I don't know why they decided he needed to be that big. I was almost lost in his arms. I suspect he couldn't see where I was or what he was doing with me so I was quite pleased my Mikki stayed next to me while Andrew took the picture.

I'm still very disappointed that Lotso didn't redeem himself in any way in "Toy Story 3". He was the first cuddly toy character in the films and he turns out to be a total villain. Meeeoww!

Here's a little reminder in case this giant Lotso has caused any confusion. Hugs with your cuddly toys means you give the toy a hug. Mikki, Andrew, did you hear me. . . Oh yes, Prrrr.

By the way, Lotso did smell of strawberry.

We were Attacked

2011-03-08T15:35:00.005Z

My human Andrew had his computer attacked by a virus. It was one of those nasty ones that puts up a message that looks just like one of the real security messages from Microsoft and then starts attacking your computer - starting with your own anti-virus software.

Fortunately, my humans are alert to this sort of thing so knew pretty quickly that it was a bogus message - but it had already set to work.

It had sailed past Andrew's McAffee security suite and was busy making itself impossible to remove. Andrew keeps all his data on external drives so he was quick to disconnect them and save that. Mikki then started doing research on her own computer - which had not been affected.

We tried a ffew things and were afraid we were looking at re-formatting the hard drive when Mikki discovered a stand-alone cleaning tool from Kaspersky, downloaded it to a USB Flash Drive and used it on Andrew's PC. It worked - or at least sufficiently to get the machine up and running again. We then installed the full Kaspersky protection (ditching useless McAffee) and caught a few more of the nasty little Trojans.

OK, that isn't the only reason I haven't posted anything for a week or so. We have been away again. This time, no photos of me!! Meeoww.

So I have put a photo up tht has nothing to do with the subject except that it is a lot more cheerful. It is me playing with a statue of Ariel on "Disney Wonder" during our previous cruise. Yes, we are stil looking forward to our "Magic" cruise in the summer.

Prrrr.

Oscar

2011-02-28T10:11:00.003Z

The Figaros of this household have a good reason to remember the Acadamy Awards. My humans named one of my cousins "Oscar" - and that's him in the picture. One year, we were in Walt Disney World at this time of year and we saw him in the Disney Studios on the day of the Awards Ceremony.

All the hype this side of the pond has been for a successful night for the British. That's fine and I have no objection to my humans feeling pleased in their own quiet, British, very non-Academy Awards way. But we toys were also pleased to see a couple of Awards each for Alice in Wonderland and, of course, for Toy Story 3.

Prrr

Salsa Night

2011-02-20T20:33:00.003Z

We have been on a little trip. It wasn't very far - about an hour in the car (or would have been without roadworks, diversions and Saturday afternoon traffic) but it was a bit of an adventure for my humans. They were going for an afternoon and evening with friends from "Mensa" (the high IQ society). I was going to keep them company in the car and to try out a different bed to lie on. In the evening they were going to learn some salsa dance moves and in the afternoon they were making carnival masks to help their evening outfits. I didn't want to take much part in any of that but as you can see I was forced to wear one of the masks (the one Andrew made).

The humans had a lot of fun in the evening but came back to the room quite tired from dancing. They had a teacher who tried to teach them two Latin dances. I think almost everyone in the group was a total beginner so they didn't show themselves up that much. As soon as the instructor got anywhere beyond the most basic steps, everyone tied themselves in knots.

We had a comofortable bed for the night: The humans paid a little extra for a king size one so there was plenty of room. It was billed as a "four poster" and I suppose it was. There was a wooden post sticking up at each corner.

We are back home tonight getting ready for our next night away - tomorrow visiting Andrew's mother. I don't expect the humans will be doing a lot more dancing soon but you never know.

Tonight in my own bed. Prr.

We're going on a Cruise

2011-02-18T09:59:00.004Z

All the worries about no Disney holidays (vacations) this year are over! My Mikki has booked us a cruise. We will be spending 7 nights on "Disney Magic" in the Mediterranian.

Mikki says it is the port stops and tours that finally won it for her. Among other places, we will be visiting Florence and Pompeii in Italy. There is also a stop for Rome but my humans have been there and don't think it is worth going again this time. There is a fair journey from the port to inland cities so you have a lot of travelling and not much time there. My humans will accept that for Florence - which neither of them have ever been to - but not Rome.

Other stops will include Barcelona in Spain, France (for Monte Carlo) and Palma on Majorca. The humans may not bother with all of them.

I enjoyed my last cruise, as you can see from the picture. Mind you, there were lots of lounger chairs so I can't remember now why I had to share mine with my cousins Floppy cat and Travelllng Beanie. They look more relaxed than me because they are much more acustomed to lying about doing nothing than I am. They are really quite lazy kitties! I can stand up without help - and I write trip reports and a blog. Maybe we can make some improvements to the lounging arrangements this time. We only had 3 nights last time. It was also on "Disney Wonder" so I will be able to look out for all the places that are different on "Magic" where I can have my picture taken. Perhaps I will find a few more from the last cruise for the Blog.

It was also quite persuasive that Disney were offering quite big discounts on some of the staterooms. We are having one that has a verandah.

Yes, we're looking forward to it. Prrrr.

Tink's Latest Movie

2011-02-12T13:34:00.002Z

We've been watching Tinker Bell's latest movie: The Great Fairy Rescue. My humans think the story is the best yet. We now see these things in High Definition from Disney Cinemagique.

Yes, we have had it for a little time now so I could have told you about it before but the humans hadn't got a nice picture of me before today. I have to admit good pictures of Tink are very easy: all her movies are totally cute and it is quite difficult to freeze the action without seeing her in a wonderful pose.

There are lots of fun ideas in this film. Some remind us of other films, like flying up to move the hands of the clock on the Palace of Westminster (Andrew won't let me say "Big Ben" because Big Ben is the hour bell, not the clock). Some are cute new things, like fairies being unable to fly in rain (Andrew thought Fawn looked very nice with wet hair and I'm sure I will get him into trouble by saying so).

There is a cat in this film and I am pleased to report my humans show no interest in him whatsoever. He is sufficiently like a real cat that he doesn't go out in the rain to chase fairies. I'm not sure it is so realistic to see him at the end appearing relatively calm about being next to a mouse. Who ever heard of a cat living with a mouse? . . Oh!

Remember the Lion King

2011-02-01T16:10:00.004Z

The humans went to London at the weekend to spend a day with Mikki's sister who was passing through. They went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. This is a quite wonderful museum with an incredibly varied collection. There is a special exhibition on at the moment of Chinese Imperial Robes. Entry to the main museum is free but this special exhibition had a charge - except that there was an exemption for disabled people and up to two carers so all three humans got in free (Andrew won't have seen much of the detail of the robes so it would hardly have been fair for him to pay full price). They also liked the paintings, jewellery and theatrical costumes.

Which gets me to the point of the story: the costumes they got most excited about were from the stage prodocution of "The Lion King". Mikki and her sister agreed it was a superb musical show. So here is a picture of a visit - quite a few years ago - to the Festival of the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom. Is the lion we can see Simba or Mufasa? I can't remember.

Oh yes, where was I? Left at home!! Meeeowww!

We were watching the television last night and saw the actor Jeremy Irons on a BBC programme, "The One Show". He was there to talk about some work he is doing with one of the Prince of Wales' charities to promote the arts to children. However, the presenters had to remind him what so many people (they said) will remember him best for: Uncle Scar. They played the "Life just isn''t fair" clip.

As soon as Mikki saw Jeremy Irons on the show, she commented how much of him had appeared in Scar - and guess what: that's what the presenters talked about too. Irons (a highly talented and very busy actor) could be amusing about it too. He reminded viewers that while the voice actors are doing their bit they are being filmed and watched by the animators. James Earl Jones inspired the magnificent Mufasa: Irons became - Scar!

Tiana and Prince Naveen

2011-01-31T16:10:00.004Z

Enough of the nasty winter in England: it's time to think warm happy thoughts and get back to the other characters who have met me in Walt Disney World. Here I am with Tiana and Prince Naveen in the Magic Kingdom. One of my humans took this while we were visiting in October last year. It was while Mikki's sister and family were with us so their two little princesses had pictures as well.

We have also seen the film on television since we got home. It's quite charming in its way. I wasn't so sure about some of the supporting animal characters - but then Walt's animators set the standard for them very high from the start (well, the second feature at least).

Saved from the Flood

2011-01-17T18:15:00.002Z

Did I tell you about the flood just before Christmas? In case I did, I'll just do a quick recap. A couple of days before Christmas, Mikki was having trouble using the shower. It was very cold and we suspected a pipe may have frozen. In the afternoon, she was walking outside the garage and heard a strange noise. She opened the door and - woosh - water several inches deep flooded out.

Yes, a pipe in the garage had burst (well, actually, come apart at a join - so it was easy for the plumber to fix). We had only one night without water or heating.

The big job then was to rescue as much as we could of the things in the garage that had got wet. Fortunately, lots of things are in plastic crates (no holes) or on shelves but there was still a lot to move and dry out - and quite a bit that had to be taken to the tip!

I was most worried about some large Disney cutouts. These are cutouts of various characters. I think they were sales material used in stores. There are things from Snow White, including a complete cottage with the seven dwarfs and some brooms with Mickey from Fantasia. You won't be surprised to know which is my personal favourite - it's shown in the picture.

Fortunately, all the cutouts were saved. They had been in boxes and we got to them before any lasting damage was done. The spent a week or so combining drying out and enhancing the Christmas decorations in the house.

Some of the cutouts - including Snow White's cottage - will be going to a Disneyana sale we are planning to attend in Birminghan (England) at the end of April. Figaro will, of course, be staying with us.

Snow has Gone

2011-01-13T10:45:00.003Z

Happy New Year everybody.

The snow has now gone from our village and things are settling down to normal. At least, I hope they are: there is plenty of winter to go. The last few days it has just been rain. At least we can get out in that without worrying about slipping every step.

I thought I would use this picture as my - belated - Christmas picture and another illustration of how cold it was. It was so cold even our smowman didn't want to go outside in it. Yes, the humans have an illuminated artificial snowman and up to now he as stood outside the front door over Christmas to welcome guests. This Christmas he stayed indoors - in the dining room so he could watch the humans have Christmas dinner.

No, I wasn't upset that I wasn't invited to sit with the humans for Christmas dinner. Toys don't eat and I didn't want to risk those clumsy animals spilling food and drink on my fur. Of course, I got a few extra cuddles.

With the New Year, the humans are saying lots of things about doing more things they want to do this year - like helping me with my Blog. Well, we'll see.

Prrrrr.

Cold

2010-12-09T14:05:00.003Z

Brrrr.

It's been jolly cold here - and so much snow there were a few days the humans didn't get out of the house. I was very glad of the extra cuddles, but I'm pleased things are getting a little warmer now. They were getting a bit irritable wandering about the house!

Mikki went out and took this picture of one of the neighbour's lights on the driveway we share. She thought it made the village look like Narnia in the winter of the White Witch. She said I could go out and get into the picture. I do a lot for my fans - but there are limits.

You can add this to the list of ways toy cats are better than real ones. We don't need to go out in bad weather - and don't need litter trays either.

We all got away for a few days last weekend to the Lake District. The humans were joining a group from Mensa (yes, the high IQ society). They had a lovely time with lots of parties, food, drink and good company. I had a good time snuggling up in the bed there. Apparently, it has been even colder there since we left. On Wednesday the temperature was minus 18 celsius (High IQ people can work out that that's still below zero in Fahrenheit).

Today, we are celebrating that the thermometer is above freezing - and the forecast is that it should do this again tomorrow. With luck, the snow will thaw enough that Mikki can drive the car in and out without getting nervous. That means we will be able to get out to get everything the humans need for Christmas. No, I don't even need a Christmas present buying for me. I just hope for a special little cuddle.

Prrrrrr.

Mugs

2010-11-20T11:31:00.003Z

Sorry to have been away from the Blog for a long time. We have been to Walt Disney World and I have been busy posting some trip reports on Intercot.com but my humans have also been busy at home so they have not been able to let me near the computer for some time. I hope that, at least, I can soon complete the trip reports. For one thing, I have to report a visit to the refurbished "Walt Disney Story" at Disney's Hollywood Studios where there is a new exhibit about the film "Pinocchio" and its "breakout star".

For the moment, I thought I would put up this new photograph, which allows me to play a little word game with the word "mug". In the middle is a nice "mug shot" of your favourite black and white toy cat

On the left is my favourite mug (drinking vessel for humans) from a series sold in the UK Disney Stores years ago featuring pictures based on Disney films. This one has Pinocchio and the kind wood carver on one side and on the other - as you should be able to see - it has nice pictures of Figaro and Cleo plus a ludicrously oversized picture of an insect. On the right is one of a pair of mugs some very dear friends gave my human Mikki for her recent birthday. The mugs are for members of the Disney Vacation Club.

Unfortunately, it looks like someone has put the (used only once) DVC mug in a dishwasher (yes, the one at our DVC property) and spoiled the decoration. I can assure our friends that the other, still intact, mug has now beel placed on display where it won't be used by mistake.

The left hand mug has been used regularly for years and machine washed as often. If the right hand mug is like its twin, it had a "not dishwasher safe" warning - instantly washed away. Disney must expect every blearly eyed DVC member to study the base of their morning coffee mugs. Only a mug (fool) would expect DVC's own crockery to be useable in the equipment provided in its resorts!

My British humans can not also help noticing another difference between the two drinking mugs. On the base of the new one it says "Made in China": on the long lasting one it says - in several languanges - "made in England".

Up

2010-10-03T09:48:00.003+01:00

This week we have been watching "Up" on the television. It has come onto Disney Cinemagic - which is also in HD. No, we haven't seen it at the cinema. Mikki saw it on an airline seat back but that is hardly the best picture in the world. It is a lovely film - even if one of the heroes is a dog!

"Up" is a really sweet film - although also very sad in parts. It is really different from the early Pixar films. It is nice to see two lonely souls become friends and although I hate to say it the talking dog is quite cute.

Which makes it time for another picture of me with characters - taken in January during our last trip to Florida. Mikki has been checking out what characters there will be for me to have pictures with this time. Oh, I'm starting to get excited.

Gardens of Madeira

2010-10-01T11:33:00.003+01:00

Here is another picture of me on my last holiday - to Madeira. Madeira is famous for its flowers and gardens. Mikki went to the most famous but came away a little disappointed. There were layouts that looked lovely from a distance but once she got close, she thought the individual plants were not very well tended. Also, she thought the paths were very uneven. Unfortunately for Madeira, my humans both come from towns in England that are famous for their public parks and displays of flowering plants.

My humans are also spoiled because they are accustomed to the gardens of Walt Disney World. They are also accustomed to the smooth and well maintained paths of Walt Disney World. Andrew was very conscious of this because he doesn't see well. When he has to spend all his time watching his feet, he missed what little he could see of the things around him.

My picture is taken from another garden. Mikki decided I had to pose on these stepping stones surrounded by water. She says she was very careful with me but I was a bit worried anyway.

Looking at the photo, I think I look quite bright and clean. My white fur is white. Mikki wasn't convinced and has forced me into my bath. Apart from the discomfort of the bath itself, I end up off the bed for two nights. At least it's over now: as I write this I am almost completely dry.

Less than 2 weeks to go now. Mikki is making a few more table reservations and fixing Halloween party tickets.

Prrrrr.

A Dragon in Paris

2010-09-28T17:14:00.003+01:00

Mikki had a holiday in France in August - all on her own.

I say it was a holiday but she was only away 5 days and spend the all of the first and last travelling by coach. So neither Andrew nor I were enthusiastic about going.

During the first of the three days in France, the rest of the party wanted to see tourist sights in Paris: up the Eifel Tower (I think it's a bit like the thing thay have on World Showcase at Epcot) and a river cruise. Mikki went instead to Disneyland Paris. She came back with lots of pictures. She had a long lunch at "Walt's" and has pictures of all the wonderful furnishings and decorations - as well as the superbly presented food (she says it tasted good too - but I wouldn't know). But the picture I have chosen is of the dragon. This is a special for Disneyland Paris. There isn't a dragon in California or Florida. It lives in a dark cave under the castle and it surrounds itself with smoke and noise, so it's quite difficult to get a good picture. I think this on's pretty good - just a shame I'm not in it.

Firago.

Madeira

2010-09-27T09:53:00.003+01:00

It's two weeks to go. Yes, two weeks today we set out for our next visit to Walt Disney World. More about that later, but meanwhile my humans tell me I have to get up to date with other things. Also, they have got round to letting me see the pictures of me on our last trip - to the island of Madeira.

Madeira is a volcanic island and there are lots of steep hills. So here am I with my human, Mikki, riding a cable car that goes from sea level up one of them. There are some gardens at the top and I'll tell you about them next time. The cable car cabins were quite nice: not much bigger than the old "skyway" at the Magic Kingdom but fully enclosed (they had better be given how high they went). There was just room for one other person as well as us. I can't understand why she looked uncomfortable while my adult humans took pictures of their toy cat.

Overall, we had a lovely time in Maderia. It was our first visit. The weather was warm and the apartment we stayed in was luxurious. It was some friends' timeshare - which again reminded me of WDW and our "home from home" at Old Key West. We wandered into the town a few times; had a fascinating day tour of the island and the humans ate in some nice restaruants. The humans also took afternoon tea at Read's Hotel. That's something you are supposed to do if you are English and go to Madeira!

I admit I didn't go our of the apartment much but there was a lovely living room, a comfy bed (whee the maid game me a chocolate every day - doesn't she know toys don't eat) and a huge balcony with a splendid view of the sea. It was great.

More soon.

Music at the Royal Albert Hall

2010-08-23T09:30:00.004+01:00

My humans (well Andrew at least) enjoy classical music. What I mean is he used to listen a lot but that was before Mikki and I came along and made sure Disney music was heard most in our house. Well, in the last few weeks Andrew has been re-introducing classical music by turning on the BBC Proms concerts on the television.

For those of you unfamialiar with the "Proms", they are something of a British tradition in summer. They are a major series of classical concerts centred around the Royal Albert Hall. The hall may not have the finest acoustics but it is magnificent. The word "Prom" is short for "Promenade" - which is used because for the season they take the seats out of the ground floor level and the audience stands ("promenades").

Andrew has been listening to some serious music, including two Mahler symphonies and a series of Beethoven's piano concertos. But the concert that got me to watch was one of works by Bach that had been arranged by others for a large orchestra. The opening piece was the Toccata and Fugue in D minor. As you know, this is the piece which also opens Disney's original "concert feature", Fantasia! And yes, the arrangement they played was the one written by Leopold Stokowski for Fantasia. So I allowed Andrew to record this concert and to listen to this part of it lots. The television picture is very good but you know how difficult it is to take photos from the television.

The Royal Albert Hall also features in one of my humans' most magical Disney moments: the time they went to the premiere of "Fantasia 2000" there. The premiere featured a screening of the musical segments with a live orchestra (conducted by James Levine, who conducts on the film). They didn't show the link pieces, so the humans didn't see an animated Mickey Mouse come to shake the conductor's hand at the end of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". Instead, he came out live on stage to do it. They also had the thrill of Roy E. Disney introducing the film and a performance of Pomp and Circumstance No. 1 - which is also a highlight of the last night of the "Proms" concerts.

Well, that's enough serious stuff. Next time, I may tell you about Mikki's trip to Disneyland Paris or about the humans most recent visit to a cinema (Toy Story 3 in 3D).

Vienna

2010-08-03T11:29:00.003+01:00

Yes, I've been away a long time and I apologise. Of course, it's not my fault but we needn't go into how my humans have been messing about with computers and working on a Village Fete and looking after Andrew's mother and arranging themselves even more holidays . . . and what other excuses do they have?

Here is the one other picture I wanted to show you from my cruise in April. I am in Vienna. The sign behind me says, "Mozarthaus Vienna" but the Guide said it is known by most people as the "Figaro House" so I had to get my humans to take me there. The guide also said Mozart lived in lots of places in Vienna but this is the one they have turned into a museum. This is the house where Mozart is believed to have composed "The Marriage of Figaro". I don't know much about that - and my humans didn't take me inside to find out. Mozart lived a very long time ago so I don't know how he knew about me and I don't have any plans for getting married but I don't complain if someone wants to name a house after me.

I hope to post a little more frequently now. I have some catching up to do. Thank you for your patience.

Figaro the Toy Cat

Thank you for thinking of me

2010-05-22T11:28:00.002+01:00

I'm breaking off from the story of my cruise for a quick, but sincere, "Thank You" note

Of course my humans try to get me other Disney merchandise themed for Figaro. This includes trading pins. They are quite lucky that there aren't that many. Mikki keeps a sharp lookout whenever she is in a park. Yes, she buys pins but she also trades - especially with cast members.

Now I can tell you Mikki had a message from Karentan on the Disboards that she had seen a Figaro pin and was happy to send it to me if I wanted it. Wasn't that nice of her! My Mikki had spent a whole trip searching for that very pin and had finally found it on a 'suit'.

Here is a cute picture of me posing with the pin. Thanks for thinking of me Karentan!

Our Cruise

2010-05-21T12:32:00.003+01:00

Yes, I had a lovely time on my European river cruise with my humans. Aboard the MS Amacello, we cruised up the Danube, down the Main and the Rhine and navigated the canal that connects them. I think the humans enjoyed themselves a lot - going out on deck to watch everything and even getting in the jacuzzi pool on the sundeck. All that water wasn't really a cat's idea of a good holiday but I was happy enough staying in the cabin almost all the time.

Mind you, the cabin (or "suite" as the tour company called it) was rather comfy. The company was offering very good deals - especially since we chose a cruise that started in March. The only snag was that the only cabin available was the largest and most luxurious. The space was larger than most and the bathroom had a bath as well as a shower (not something I thought important). I don't think the bed was any different from the regular cabins - but it was very confortable. Also, on many days, the cabin steward made clever designs with the towels like this one. Like almost all the cabins, we had floor to ceiling windows. so I could look out when I wanted to.

The humans had a great time on the cruise. They thought the staff were all friendly and helpful; the food was excellent (with efforts made to offer dishes reflecting the areas we were going through); and the lounge areas confortable and not too crowded (the boat was full but only took about 150 passengers). There were also lots of chances to go ashore. A big plus of river cruising in Europe is that all the contries are part of the European Union so there are no borders or customs formalities when you go ashore: you just get off the boat.

The humans visited lots of interesting and historic places. I went with them once. I'll tell you in my next post.

Figaro (the Toy Cat)

Old and New

2010-05-13T09:27:00.004+01:00

I've been waiting a long time to get back to my diary and I hope you haven't missed me too much.

We have been very busy since I last got on the computer and I had better explain a bit about it. I'll bring you more up to date in the next few days.

The first half of April, we were away on a river cruise in Europe. After that, it was rushing to get ready for a weekend in Manchester for a Disney fan event. Then there were busy things with family and village.

And in between things, the computer went wrong! Yes, the one I use: so no blogs. We thought we had been attacked by a virus but it turned out to be the anti-virus software that had itself attacked the Windows operating system. Luckily, Mikki learned about this from a magazine before we had taken extreme measures. The other lucky thing is that all my information and pictures are on external drives and we had a spare "box" from when Mikki bought herself a new one. What we lacked was the programs I like for typing and editing the photos. By now, I have a mixture of getting Andrew to re-load some of the things I like and me learning some of the different programs on the spare "box". So here goes with getting up to date.

I thought I'd start with this picture from DAK in January. I call it "Old and New". The humans say it could apply to many things at the moment but I'm just a toy cat so the "old" is Mikki's sweater and the "new" is Tinker Bell (a relatively new addition to DAK) sitting on Mikki's hand.

I hope I need not add that "old" was not meant to indicate me. I am mature and distinguished. Mikki does like this sweater - which is about 10 years old. A few days after getting home, she was in one of our local supermarkets when one of the staff saw it; said she had a similar one; and agreed they haven't done anything quite as good since.

Ah well, if you insist I won't argue with the idea that, "the old ones are the best".

"Tweedles" in Wonderland (Characters 12)

2010-03-15T09:37:00.006Z

Last week, my humans went to see a film (movie) in the cinema for the first time in years. In fact it was their first visit to the local cinema (theatre) complex since it opened. The reason was a combination of three events: the cinema had 3D equipment installed in one of its screens; "Alice in Wonderland" was on; and the humans discovered that even with a supplement for 3D the cost was very reasonable if you went mid-week!

So, my humans have seen the latest "Alice" in 3D - and they enjoyed it. Andrew did say it is many years since he learned not to expect a film to be like a book just because it had the same title so he was ready for something that was more "inspired by" than "based on". But the story was good. Both my humans agreed Johnny Depp was ideal as the Mad Hatter.

The 3D added to the overall effect without being overwhilming or gimmicky. The problem for my Andrew is that he can't see very well and often uses a small telescpe to watch movies. This isn't possible with 3D because you need both eyes. He and Mikki sat towards the front but he still thinks he must have missed a great deal - especially with the visual richness and complexity he associates with Tim Burton.

They didn't take me but I thought this was a chance to search our old photos for a picture of me with some "Alice" characters. This is of Tweedledum and Tweedeledee in the square in the UK pavilion at Epcot in 1999. I'm afraid the picture quality is not as good as some because of the camera we were using at the time but, yes, I did have more fur round by ears then.

I think I'd rather be cuddled by this pair than the "fat boys" of the latest film.

Valentine Characters

2010-02-13T15:04:00.003Z

I'm back from my holiday in Walt Disney Woirld just in time to wish everyone a happy Valentine's day.

For anyoe who doesn't know what I have been doing - or has missed my Blog posts - I have been writing a trip report for the Intercot discussion board. Look for me on the trip report forum. As I post this, I have finished writing the report but my humans haven't posted it all yet.

Here also is my Valentine's day picture. It is Thumper and Miss Bunny from "Bambi". For once, I thought I should let you see the picture without me or my humans. Thumper and Miss Bunny look very friendly: quite twitterpated! We met them at Disney's Animal Kingdom a week or so ago. We were the first people (possibly the only people) waiting for them when they arrived at Camp Minnie-Mickey. It was raining at the time and you can see the unbrellas they had carried in the picture. It was very cute.

There were lots of reminders of Valentine's day while we were in Florida. Mikki bought Andrew a card which had no message on the front but just a lovely 3D picture of Tinker Bell. We also saw Mickey Mouse Valentine cards in packs of 6. Somehow that amused my humans. Well, so may people must love him and he's such a kind mouse that perhaps Mickey sends lots of cards.

Those who have been reading my trip report will also know there was a Marie toy with a rose in her mouth. In the end she did not come home with us (although my Mikki now has two real red roses in the house).

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T10:58:00.004Z

I wish everyone a very Happy New Year. My only hesitation comes from the fact that whenever my humans hear news of other people's New Year Message (like UK's Prime Minister), they either shout at the television or turn off the sound.

We had a wonderful New Year's eve. I had lots of cuddles. OK, some people may be boring and say what I mean is that the humans went to bed before midnight - but I much prefer my version. We woke up about midnight when some neighbours let off fireworks. I am sure they were very good but you understand we have got a little spoiled over the years with fireworks. We are looking forward to Disney fireworks. We will be able to see them every evening. We won't have to wait until midnight - and we hope it will be warmer than England even though we hear there is a bit of a cold snap over there at the moment. Mikki is hoping to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the lounge in Bay Lake Tower during our stay there (11 days to go, and counting).

Yes, we are starting to get busy with preparations. Mikki is getting together all the papers we will need. Many come electronically, so she has spent a lot of the morning printing them out. She is also making out a timetable of what we will be doing. It is starting to sound quite exciting- although we do not plan in advance in anything like the detail some people do.

Being New Year, it's also time for those things called Resolutions. I'm hoping the humans keep the one about a lot more cuddles this year. It must be me they're talking about.

Prrrrrr.

A Very Disney Christmas

2009-12-30T16:11:00.003Z

My humans remember a time before VHS when there were only two ways to see Disney movies. First, you could wait for them to come round to your local cinema (which happened once every 7 years). You then had to hope you weren't away on holiday that week and your parents decided there was some special reason to treat you. The second was to watch a little bit of them on "Disney Time" - a programme that was a fixture on the afternoon of every holiday Monday. The problem with that is you only got little clips from a few films. "Pinocchio" was often one of them but the clip they seemed to like best was of the little wooden boy meeting "Honest John" and Gideon and them singing, "An Actor's Life for Me". Surely, they could have shown the heroic little cat opening the window to reveal the Wishing Star!

Well, times have changed a lot. There is no "Disney Time" any more. But the good news is that daytime programmes on the main BBC channel (BBC1) seem to be given over to the Walt Disney Company for several days. Today is the third day when we have had as many as 5 feature films with only a short break for a lunchtime news bulletin. We have had 101 Dalmations (live action) and 102 Dalmations, Tigger, Piglet and the "2" films of Jungle Book and Sister Act as well as many others.

The fimal film today - showing as I type this - is Mary Poppins. So I have put up a picture we took at the Grand Floridian of me with her and one of her penguins. Yes, there's also my human Mikki - but she should be there because she, too, is practically perfect in every way. As I write this, she is working on a new Netbook PC she has bought so that I can continue with this Blog while we are away from home. Isn't she kind?

Yes, it is less than 2 weeks until we will be in Bay Lake Tower at Walt Disney World Resort. Prrrrr.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T17:18:00.003Z

Merry Christmas (or, if you prefer, Happy Holidys) to everyone: to all my friends, to everyone who likes going to Disney parks as much as I do (about 3 weeks to go) and to everyone else too. "Tis the season to be jolly" . . . and get lots of cuddles.

It is Christmas Day and the picture is of me during our Christmas lunch. There were only 3 humans with me at the table this year: Andrew and Mikki and Andrew's mother. They sat on either side of the table and I am standing next to the end. I like to think that means I was at the head of the table, not just standing by the window.

Yes, there is some snow on the garden in the background. It has not snowed here today but there is still a little "white" in our Christmas. I hope all those who have far too much snow at the moment get through OK. I'm just glad that toy cats don't need to go outside! I think my humans may also be glad that toy cats don't shred Christmas decorations. Look where they put me!

Happy Christmas

Christmas is Coming (3) - and so is my holiday

2009-12-17T13:58:00.005Z

Today we heard of the sad passing of Roy E. Disney, the last of the family to have a leading role in the Disney company. We offer sympathy to his family and good luck for their future and for the company that shares his name. Where would I be without the Disneys?!

I know some people in the USA read this Blog, so for them my title is, "The Holidays are coming - and so is my vacation.

My picture is of two pencil drwings that go up during the Christmas (Holiday) season. We have quite a few of these drawings and they can't all be on view all the year. The one on the left (my right) has the theme, "The Night Before Christmas" and the one on the right is of Mickey Mouse decorating the Steamboat. Both were drawn by Lindy, who used to work in the Studios in the late 1990s. She also did a very good one of Figaro. Of course, she didn't depart from the approved design but she did shade in the balck fur a lot more than many of the artists.

Come to think of it, that picture of Figaro is one that not on the wall at the moment. Perhaps I can persuade the humans they can put up a few more pictures!

We have also been preparing for our trip to Florida. The bad news for me is that this has meant I had to have a bath. If you've seen "Bath Day", you know Figaro doesn't like his bath (yes, he's a toon actor playing a role but in this respect I am sure it is true). The humans say I am getting grey (gray) and have to be cleaned. Well, I am the most senior of all the toy Figaros is the house and I do get a lot more cuddles than almost all of them so I should expect to get a little worn. At least my humans don't spray me with perfume like Minnie Mouse did to Figaro in the film. Anyway, this picture was taken before the bath but now it is over and the humans say I look a lot better. I am certainly glad it is over.

What's that, Mikki? I feel softer after my bath too? Yes, I'm getting a hug!

Christmas is Coming (2)

2009-12-13T18:11:00.003Z

We watched "Mickey's Twice Upon a Chlristmas" last night. We saw the chaos Pluto get over-enthusiastic about putting the star on the Christmas tree. He wrecked Mickey's decorations. I strongly recommend this short feature to anyone who still thinks real animals about the house are better than toy ones. It did remind me it was time to tell you some more about our own decorations.

Outside, we have one large illuminated snowflake. It's lights flash - sometimes faster and sometimes slower. If my humans remember to shut the gate it is on, then it is visible along the private drive and can be seen by anyone who comes to any of the 3 houses on the drive. This year, we have added an illuminated snowman standing beside our front door. We think that's enough. The Osbornes we are not - and have no wish to be.

Inside, we have raised the Christmas tree. It's an artificial one: black in colour. My Mikki decorates it very well, with lights, lots of baubles (many "mouse head" shaped) and white tinsel. Unlike Mickey, we don't have a star on top: we have a Christmas fairy. And you probably didn't need my picture to guess which under-dressed pixie casts herself for that role. She even has some baubles with her on too. Oh yes, there are a couple of hanging ornaments of a smart little black and white kitten too!

As well as the couple in my previous picture, there are several plush toys who come out at Christmas. Most are Mickey in various seasonal costumes but there is one Minnie and one more Pluto - this one has reindeer horns. There are, of course, no Figaros who come out for Christmas. I have things arranged so that these days none of my namesakes are in st***ge.

Speaking of reindeer horns, on Friday night the humans joined others carol singing round the village. Mikki wore a red Santa Claus coat over her warm coat and Andrew put on reindeer horns and a flashing red nose. I think they had a good time (they came back from the pub late enough). I didn't go: it was cold out.

Christmas is approaching and we are getting in the mood. Prrrr Prrrr.

Swindon Magic

2009-12-11T12:15:00.002Z

My humans have been to Swindon - the newly announced "twin" of Walt Disney World. It was a long time ago - so long that I wasn't with them - so there's no pictures. This post is based on what they can remember.

It was December when my humans spent a weekend in Swindon. It was snowing. In England, this means it is cold. It is not like Blizzard Beach. It also means that the roads are iced up and all the public services grind to a halt. In southern England people act like snow is as much of a surprise as it would be in Florida even though Swindon is further north than Canadian cities like Toronto and Montreal. My humans went to Swindon to a conference but many of the people who were due to go couldn't get there.

I think there was a time when towns "twinned" with places that were similar. I don't think this is always the case now. I hope not. I plan to go to Walt Disney World in January and I do not want it to be frozen up.

My humans travelled to Swindon by train. Swindon is on the main line west from London into Wales. Swindon used to be the centre for engineering for the company that built the line, the Great Western.Railway. The original line was famous for how straight it was - not just going round and round in circles like the train at the Magic Kingdom. The open sided carriages are also great fun in Florida but my humans were jolly glad they are not used in British trains. A lot of the carriages have been replaced in the years since my humans' trip to Swindon. That's good because their memory is that it was a cold weekend and the heating was not very good.

Talking of things going round in circles brings me to one of Swindon's most famous current "attractions" - the Magic Roundabut. The television reported that part of Swindon's bid to "twin" with WDW was a poem comparing this traffic system to Fantasyland's teacups ride. If so, I guess Swindon's "Mad Hatter" must have been the road planner who invented it. Now, Americans are said to be famous for getting confused by any roundabout so welcome to one that confuses lots of British people when they arrive at it for the first time (and often for several times after that). There is one large roundabout with 5 small roundabouts connected to it. I think the "Magic Roundabout" is supposed to be like the teacups because different bits have traffic that goes round in different dirctions. I'm a toy and you all know toys don't drive cars (or pizza delivery trucks or airport baggage tractors).

Neither I nor my humans know what either the people of Swindon or the Disney company want or expect from their "twinning" but in all seriousness I wish them well. I think one of Swindon's competitors was Lincoln - our county town. Lincoln has a real castle that was the scene of battles over 800 years ago. I dare say the people of Swindon could have made fun of Lincooln's differences from WDW too.

Now I just looking forward to Chirstmas, the new year, and my next trip.

Prrrrrr.

Christmas is coming

2009-12-03T11:46:00.003Z

It's December and Christmas is on the way. My humans have started to get out the CDs of Christmas carols and we have already been to the Post Office to send our first card (to Australia). This means the humans have now written the Christmas letter they send out with their cards. There's a lot of news about Bermuda this year. I suppose I shall have to forgive them that there seems to be no mention of their favourite toy cat! The cards to the USA and Canada will have to go next week.

We haven't put up any decorations yet but my humans did get several boxes of Christmas things out of their loft when they were up there yesterday looking for something else. The two characters with me in the picture were first to get out of the boxes. You may be able to see that Mickey Mouse has been with us since 1999. Pluto is a little newer. Mickey is very cute (isn't he always). He is always offering people the candy cane in his sack but he always sems to have one left in it. My Mikki seems to like Pluto too. I suppose he's all right. He is a Disney character even though he is a. . . d-o-g.

You won't need me to tell you they are not the only Disney characters in our Christmas things but they were the most pushy - refusing to stay in st***ge any longer. So I had to go and have a chat to them to remind them just who is No. 1 in this house.

OK, it's quite exciting really to start getting ready for the celebrations. I shall have to post a few more pictures as things get going.

Prrrrr.

Toys, Cartoons and Animated Characters

2009-11-25T11:16:00.002Z

My humans continue to tease me lots.

For the last few days, they have been comparing me to a cartoon cat who seems to be taking over the Internet (Simon's cat). The cat has a little moving cartoon where he goes to a lot of effort to wake his human and then points to his mouth to demand food. This cartoon has also been shown on breakfast television. Andrew grew up with real cats so claimed this was very realistic. I said this was yet another reason to prefer toy cats: we don't demand food all the time.

But today my humans wanted to get up and Andrew slept through the first alarm. Now they blame me for not waking them! They have had a couple of late nights recently and they can hardly blame me for that! Toy cats don't stay out all night either!

Simon's cat may do cat-like things but he's still just an outline cartoon. For the most part, Disney are very clear that their characters are not "cartoons", they are "animated characters" ("Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" is artistic licence). Dumbo wasn't just an elephant and the seven dwarfs weren't just dwarfs: they each had their individual personalities. So, if you want to see a cat with unique character being lively in the morning when someone else wants to sleep, have a look at "Cat Nap Pluto". Please remember, however, that the cat character concerned was just acting a part for Mr Disney and is really a very sweet, good natured kitty who deserves a cuddle.

And I'm just joking about the humans teasing me. What it really means is that they are paying attention . . . and that my place on the bed remains unchallenged.

Prrrrr.