I mentioned that we were going to bring the cats back with us after Christmas, and we most certainly did. Acquiring them at the airport proved quite the adventure. Our flight arrived at 6:45 am, and we left the “Animal Reception Centre” at 12:00. 5 hours and 15 minutes of very sleepy McNeils, sitting in the lobby of the animal reception centre. It wasn’t so bad, though - they had plenty of magazines to read, and they had a guy with one of those little carts outside selling sausage sandwiches, which were DELICIOUS, by the way.

When the cats finally turned up in the lobby, we had to carry them to the bus stop, which was probably about half a mile across and down a four-lane highway with no crosswalk. Fortunately, we had the intellectual wherewithal to leave our bags at the airport bag-holder place during this process, and it was well worth the money.

I was nervous about bringing them here, because – as some of you may already know – Toby is a neurotic anxiety disorder of an animal, and I thought he might die of a heart attack on the airplane, or at the very least tinkle all over our worldly possessions when he arrived. Kermy, on the other hand, likes to run around a lot, and I thought she would be depressed about moving from a nice big house to a teansy little flat. The good news is that everyone seems to be settling in just fine.

Kermy is completely torturing Toby – she bats at his face when he’s trying to use the litter box and growls at him when he jumps on the bed at night – but he is holding his own. Sometimes he stakes her out – waits for her around a corner and then attacks her when she walks by. It’s hysterical.

The most important kitty news is that, since we have immediate access to the outdoors now, we thought it best to get them collars. We have never tried a collar on Toby before, but we used to try to get Kermy to wear one, and she kept tearing them to shreds and ripping them off her head. We went for some fancier ones this time – black with LOTS of diamond studs on them, and well – I guess they like the bling. They practically strut around in their new collars. Here are some pictures:



And while I’m at it, here are some more pictures of Brooke & Melinda’s Visit:



In other news, I wanted to quickly follow up on some comments from Dad McNeil, who tried to encourage a show of e-hands so that we would know who reads the blog. Don’t worry folks, I love all of my friends and family – blog readers or no – and I actually know that loads of you read it, because some of the more shy readers send me emails or ask me questions on the phone, and that’s wonderful, too. I just like to joke about how there aren’t very many readers, because let’s face it – I don’t think Eucerin is REALLY going to pay me for my recommendation. Although, it REALLY worked. My so-called eczema is almost gone. Wait they really should pay me.

Finally, this is officially our 100th post to McNeilorama. Time to turn on the Celebration Light, I suppose. Incidentally, we found out that the Celebration Light is – unbelievably - worth £490. It was designed by Verner Panton in 1969 and originally manufactured by Louis Poulsen. Check it out (it’s available in red, orange, purple, blue or turquoise).