Changes
Big week this week, in the 1000 shades household.

Like Jonathan I've moved into a new part of the office, sitting with knew people in a different department and with an inferior view out of my window. What it does mean is that I now have to learn a lot of new information very quickly and pick up work that has been part done by my colleague (who has to do likewise with work I've started but not finished – like Mastermind but with an inferior chair).

It's a slightly scary time, as I'd grown very happy where I was, however it's a good challenge and important that I show how much I've developed over the last few months to my new colleagues.

We also started to let the cat out of the house (officially) over the weekend. At first, we took her out into the back garden, with a string leash attached to her collar to prevent her from running away from us. At first she was very timid, and nervous about what she would find behind the next bush, but by the end of Saturday she loved the outdoors, and whined like mad when we closed the backdoor and shut her inside.

Sunday saw more of the same to begin with, although this time we let go of the string, and let it drag behind her, safe in the knowledge we could always grab it if she started going into places we'd rather she didn't. Everything was going well, until next door's massive dog started barking – Cleo showed an impressive lack of fear at his noise, until his head appeared over the top of our fence, at which point she puffed herself up to three times her size, and shot inside to hide underneath the kitchen units.

However, she wasn't going to let this temporary set back put her off, and at lunch time we removed the string and let her wander off on her own. She promptly headed into the garden of the house behind ours, then into each of their neighbours, before returning briefly to visit both of our neighbours (the dog had now gone out).

So happy was she in her new, wider environment that we lost sight of her, and could only track her movements by the sound of the bell on her collar. That was, until we heard an almighty hissing cat scrap from about two gardens away, presumably where she had strayed into someone else's territory, and she returned shortly afterwards.

Still, she obviously liked it outside, as she clawed my hand to ribbons when I picked her up to bring her inside.

We'll let her out again tonight, and hopefully at some point we'll teach her to use the cat flap on the back door. Then she can spend her days popping in and out.

Like the cat, I now have a wider environment to explore and learn about quickly, but hopefully we'll both find that our horizons expanding in an enjoyable and relatively safe environment. If all else fails, I suppose I can act like her, and just crap in the corner before scratching my colleagues and hiding under a table.
- posted by Paul @ 2:04 pm