December 2003 - There are strangers living in the basement flat. They seem quite nice but they already know not to let us in the house - drat!! However, they don't know that I've found several ways into Darren's bedroom including through a loose panel in the basement - you've hear about cats who walk through walls - well I'm it!! Well that's the end of Satin's little game. I've got the pillow and not only that, Darren leave's my dinner down stairs for me if I'm busy when the others are fed. Purrfect!! The digger and a truck have come back and they made retaining walls behind the house and filled the whole space with soil that they scraped off the top paddock with the digger. Those woolly lawnmowers will not be pleased - it will take ages for their pasture to recover. We were just getting used to all the soft fine soil for our private ablutions when they covered it all with the smelly material from the floor of the chicken sheds, soaked the whole lot with water and filled it all up with plants and mulch from the compost bins.

November 2003 - The frantic activity continues and now its in the basement - a new window, a wall knocked down to make a kitchen and breakfast bar and so much painting and cleaning. There was a digger and truck here and they dug up the backyard, put in a tank and laid drains so that the pump on the scary toilet could be removed. The final result seems to be that the basement is now a self-contained flat. You can bet that this superior accommodation is not for us. For the last few nights that snooty Satin has gone missing. Must go and investigate. I see she's found a way into the house through the front window and is snuggled up to Tom's friend who now lives in the basement. I thought I made it clear that I was the boss - we'll see about this!!

October 2003 - Tom has returned from London but even he can't get them to let us back in the house. There is frantic activity in the house - old walls being ripped out, insulation and new walls being put in and they are painting the floors blue!! Seems the original wooden floors have wood borers and can't be sanded - apparently no one will fall through the floors for at least five years, so they are covering it all over with tough blue paint - well you can't account for human tastes. The frantic activity is also going on outdoors as well - a windbreak and fence have been ripped up and the clothesline has been moved - and they are cleaning out the chicken sheds - now that looks promising!!

September 2003 - Ah! its OK to eat the wildlife if it has fur but not if it has feathers. They were so pleased with us. We managed to catch a bunny and between the three of us, we couldn't manage to eat all of it. We've all put weight on - losing those collars and bells was definitely a good move. I didn't think that I would feel sorry for those woolly creatures but they got Dave the shepherd in to attend to the new lambs - made my eyes water - it was positively barbaric. And exactly as sod's law would predict, two more lambs arrived a week after his visit. They said it was a tube train pulling into the basement, a rumbling noise approaching from a distance and then the house shook - even I know that it was an earthquake - around 4.9 on the Richter scale I would say.

August 2003 - The best treat I've had in ages - really very tasty. I can't understand why they were so horrified. After all, those great woolly creatures are vegetarian and are unlikely to want to eat the afterbirth themselves. It just goes to show that it pays to tag along when they feed the sheep. They were so busy cooing over the new lambs, they didn't notice what I was up to until it was too late.

July 2003 - It really is too much!! She has arrived!! The middle of winter and we are relegated to the laundry. We cats are not allowed in the house at all - and all because one or both of those other two disgraced themselves indoors - they didn't want to go outside in the snow and thought no one would notice or smell a few puddles on the carpet. It is so unfair - that canine creature is allowed in doors and gets the best spot in front of the fire.

June 2003 - Stranger and stranger still, they seem to be cleaning everything. Are we expecting royalty?

May 2003 - Ah! The noisy nocturnal one has seen Mr Grey. Not only has he seen him but he coaxed him into the house and locked him in a bathroom! The indignity of it! The complaints! I didn't realise cats in this country knew such words. Eventually the previous owner of this house came and took Mr Grey away.

April 2003 - This family is a funny lot you know. One of them leaves the house while it's still dark, and another stays in the house all day asleep and spends the entire night awake playing records. I wouldn't mind except that the noise makes it harder to hear if there are any tasty little creatures moving around at night.

March 2003 - Help! An interloper! I was on my nightly patrol last night when I was confronted by what was possibly the largest tabby I have ever seen. A fellow by the name of Mr Grey. He says he was here before I was and wanted to know where the others had gone. What others?!!.

February 2003 - I'm in trouble again. I was caught with my face in a chicken they were thawing in the pantry. They can shout at me all they like, I managed to finish off most of the breast meat before I was caught. Now I just need to find a nice cool spot to curl up and sleep it off - my tummy does feel rather tight. It was rather unreasonable of them to throw the rest of the chicken away and not let us finish it off.

January 2003 - At last we are allowed out of the house. Sheep!! We are sharing this new home with stupid woolly creatures that eat grass all day and stamp their hooves at us. At night, there are possums - glaring red eyes and they make such a racket with their hissing and other unspeakable activities. And now I am in disgrace!. How was I to know that it was a native bird? There's so many of them and they are so cheeky, flying in and out of the railing on the decking. Fantails - mmm!!

December 2002 - It seems we are in New Zealand but how would I know. I've been cooped up in the house for a month and have to share a litter tray with those other two. Well at least its the same family and the new house is huge - lots to explore and plenty of places to hide but it looks far more interesting outside. I can't actually see any other houses - just trees and lots of yummy-looking small birds. There's no accounting for the stupidity of those other two cats. Silk managed to get left behind in the loft and from there she got into the roof. Found spread-eagled in the sky-light - completely trapped until one of the family woke up and let her out the next morning.

November 2002 - This has to be the worst experience yet. First the furniture disappears, then most of the family and a week later, we were locked up in wooden boxes and taken away in a van. The sign on the side of the van said AirPets Oceanic. Days and days on a plane with no food and having to share with Silk while Satin got a separate box. I'm the senior one here - if anyone was going to travel first class, it should have been me.

October 2002 - What an indignity! That's the third time I've been taken to the vet this month. Blood tests, injections, worm tablets and this time they took unmentionable samples to some government laboratory. They have even put a microchip in my neck.

September 2002 - I'm getting very worried. Over the past three days the furniture and belongings were packed up into boxes and put in a large shipping container. Nothing left except some mattresses on the floor, the lounge suite and a few pots and pans in the kitchen. The house has been put up for sale without consulting me. I've only just got this neighbourhood sorted out - as soon as they go to work, I'm off to No 14 for some extra breakfast, a sleep in the sun on the steps of No 10 and then an early supper at No 7.