Cruise Preparations Continue

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.