Les fruits d’une sécheresse

~ iamthesunking

Non-Brits: check on your British friends. We are just about managing to haul our frazzled carcasses through what we really hope is the last hot snap of the year, and we are far from ok.

It’s been so hot that Cat Daddy’s iPhone flashed a warning message last Wednesday, about needing to cool down before it could work. (Ok, so he left it in the sun and forgot about it, but that’s not the point.) Our surroundings are so unreassuringly brown and parched that we have started having those conversations that old people have: “I really hope it rains, because we NEED the rain”, debating the probability of a hosepipe ban, and so on.

Not normal.

One of our water-saving measures at Le Château has been to invest the kingly sum of £8 in a washing-up bowl, which catches the water every time we use the sink instead of just letting it run down the plughole. It has made us acutely aware of how much water we use – I once discovered that I’d used a whole bowlful to rinse just one smallish pan – and, when it’s about half full, we empty it into the flowerbed.

As I thought it only fair that Louis Catorze cut down, like the rest of us, so I swapped his usual tumbler for, erm, a Chambord cocktail coupe. The tumbler holds 500ml of which he only ever drinks half, due to not being able to squeeze his silly face right down to the bottom, whereas the coupe holds half as much and is wider:

Très fancy.

Cat Daddy: “You can’t use that! It was expensive!” (Actual price of coupe: £0, because it came free with a bottle of Chambord.)

Cat Daddy again: “But that’s our favourite dessert glass!” (Actual number of desserts ever served in this glass: 0.)

The experiment failed. Although Catorze drank from it, he made the most almighty mess, which is exactly the opposite of saving water. I would far rather give his leftover water to the plants than see it all over the floor.

So Catorze is back to his pint tumbler again, and his part in our water-saving drive remains nothing, niente, nichts and nada. It’s a shame as I really wanted him to make a contribution to the planet.

Cat Daddy: “Well, that would’ve been a first.”

Why, yes, that is a piece of cobweb on his whisker, flapping in the breeze.

EDIT: To make up for his aqua-selfishness, Catorze has kindly agreed that the local wildlife may use some of his 9,983 bowls for their water. So we have dotted them around Le Jardin in shady spots and are refilling them daily. Catorze has always refused to drink from a bowl but I have a funny feeling he will start now, just to be difficult.

18 thoughts on “Les fruits d’une sécheresse”

  1. At least Louis has been helping you dust, as the cobweb proves. Yes, we are all praying for a break in heat/drought/fires/floods…take our pick.

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    1. It’s absolutely brutal, isn’t it? We are struggling in this heat and it’s actually making us feel quite miserable. Only one member of our household likes it. I’m sure you can guess who that is.

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  2. That look on his face… I have to admit it’s (a little bit) scary…
    Meanwhile Jimi got used to all the fans blowing in every room. They say temperatures will drop next week… But it won’t stop me from buying ice cream.

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    1. Catorze IS scary! Now maybe you will start believing me! By the way, did you read that Reddit post that’s been circulating, about the person who (in all seriousness) wanted to make mouse-flavoured ice cream for their cat during the heatwave?

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      1. Hahaha… no, I didn’t saw that post but I’ll look in to it. But I’m already sure it’s not going to be my favourite flavour… 😉

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        1. Someone’s cat had brought a mouse, and they were asking WITH NO SENSE OF IRONY WHATSOEVER whether they could marinate it in some cream, and then put the cream in their ice-cream maker to make mouse ice cream for the cat. 😬

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            1. My first thought was, “Eww, the same ice cream maker that you use for humans?” My second thought was, “Or maybe the cat has its own ice cream maker?”

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  3. The heatwave is bad here, too, and Miss Penny stops eating if she’s too hot, so I have to turn on the air conditioning in the evening for a couple of hours. I am glad Sa Maj shares his water with other creatures, that’s very generous of him, because he could simply have said “let them have champagne!” 🙂

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    1. He’s an only child, so we need to make a special effort so that he learns to share! 🤣🤣🤣 Poor Miss Penny. I really do feel for animals in the heat.

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