DON'T FIGHT WITH A CAT IN A BAR

More about today's blog title later, for now indulge me while I relate the two days' activities leading up to the cat in the bar.

First, let me muse a moment on the promised insight from our trip to Norfolk. The more we move about the country (admittedly, have not been far at this point, but a trend seems to be emerging), the more we discover that British people tend to be, by and large, a tremendously friendly bunch. There does exist a certain cautious exterior, but once it's broken through - usually by relating that we are students from Canada - the people are welcoming, helpful and downright charming. For example, the woman who drove us from Great Cressingham to Thetford was a lovely gal who chatted the whole ride and gave us a great history on Thetford Forest and suggestions for places to visit during our next trip up there. It is a good feeling to be spending time in a country populated by wonderful people.

After we arrived back in Cambridge on Wednesday night we went out to a formal dinner at Clare Hall with people from Ray's office. As always, we enjoyed getting dressed up and the dinner was very nice. Following on from my musings above, it shouldn't come as a surprise when I tell you that the people we dined with - Ray's coworkers and some new people we met at the dinner itself - were a terrific bunch and it was an evening very pleasantly spent.

Thursday was a generally sleepy day as we "recovered" from our holiday - I think being constantly cold (see blog entry describing the temperature of the B&B) tired me out a bit. Really cranked up the heat when we got back to our flat!

So now we arrive at the cat. Friday night saw us at yet another pub, celebrating Rob's birthday (Rob is an officemate of Ray's). The Cambridge Blue has the distinction of being one of only two non-smoking pubs in all of Cambridge (out of over 100 pubs), and I must admit that it was nice to go out without getting all smokey. The place was absolutely PACKED but it did contribute to the friendly community pub atmosphere. But what made the atmosphere truly complete was the Bar Cat, who sauntered out from the kitchen after last call and hopped up on a bar stool to sit calmly as if waiting for his pint. Think I'm joking? We too at first thought his appearance was a result of the free-flowing ale, but we have photographic evidence:



Thank-goodness for the new-fangled camera cell phone of Ray's!

As you can (sort of) see, the cat was a large handsome fellow, and it should be noted that he did not particularly appreciate being disturbed while he waited for his drink. Upon us plying him with "Here, kitty" and other disingenious ways to catch his attention, he gave us a baleful look, hopped of his stool and stalked back to the kitchen. Clearly, we'd breached the Bar Cat Protocol.