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‘Make a man of him it would,’ Harold began one of his favourite tirades, and there would be no stopping him now.

If they really needed to punish Tommy they should make him listen to one of Harold’s lectures.

Chapter Two

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It was another one of my favourite days of the week– Sunday – and George and I were patrolling Edgar Road. It was freezing, and winter was definitely knocking on the door, but that didn’t stop us from popping into homes where the Sunday Lunch Club was in full swing. To explain, the idea of the club was that people opened their homes to someone who would otherwise be on their own, and gave them a lovely Sunday lunch. Simple but brilliant.

And, it was a doorstep cat’s dream.

Harold wasn’t being grumpy for once and came up with the idea to help ease loneliness by setting up The Sunday Lunch Club. George thinks it was his idea initially, which it probably was. George and I are known for our brilliant ideas – he gets it from me. A chip off the old paws. The club helps lonely people feel less lonely and it also means a lot to those who host the lunches, so it helps the community as a whole. A wonderful idea and one which has now grown beyond Edgar Road. I am very proud of George and Harold. They did have my help, of course, but I’m not one to boast … Although they couldnot have done it without me.

Anyway, I digress. Today we popped in to see all our neighbours who were hosting lunch on our street– and not just to get treats, although both George and I had very happy tummies by the end of it. But most importantly, it warmed our hearts to see people who would otherwise be on their own enjoying food and company. The host families got to meet new people and widen their social group as well. It was a winning situation for all. Harold was at Marcus and Sylvie’s house with a couple of other people. Snowball was there and I had popped in to see her briefly. I would love to see more of her, but we are always surrounded by people these days – it’s hard to get time alone. We’re lucky that we’re older and not in that teenage kind of love that George and Hana have where they want to spend every moment together.

‘It was such a brilliant idea that me and Harold had, wasn’t it?’ George said. He said this every time.

‘Yes, son, such a wonderful idea and getting to see how happy people are is such a huge credit to you.’ I was proud of him, despite the fact that he liked to inflate his little ego at times. But who could blame him? He deserved it. And I had often been accused of the same thing, although I’m pretty sure my ego is fully in check … most of the time.

‘And Harold and I really are genius, aren’t we?’

‘You are.’

‘And I might be the cleverest cat who ever lived.’

Hang on, that was my title.‘Well, maybe the second cleverest cat,’ I purred with a smile. We both grinned. ‘Right, son we better head home.’

The days were becoming darker as well as colder. I could feel the chill in my fur, announcing we would soon be facing the coldest part of the year. We had to brace ourselves for it. I loved to go out, and was reluctant to become a fair weather cat like some of the others, but I still preferred the warm.

We went through the cat flap of our house. Today, we had hosted our lunch with Doris, a lady who always knitted, even while eating, and Clive, a very smart ex-teacher who liked to debate politics and scared Jonathan by asking him questions he had no clue how to answer. They were both lonely, and having that in common was enough, but they still bickered with each other. Jonathan said they should just get married, as they were like an old married couple, but Claire told him that wasn’t funny. Claire and Jonathan were still young but had been married for ages now, and they did bicker quite a bit, but they also laughed a lot too. We didn’t see Clive and Doris laughing, so I was pretty sure even my matchmaking skills would be pushed to the limit trying to get them together. Didn’t mean I wouldn’t try though! I put that thought on my ‘save for later’ list.

I had got many couples together in my time, Claire and Jonathan being my biggest and first success. But there was always so much to do keeping my cats and my families under control, I had little time for much else these days. I certainly had my paws full.

‘Look,’ Summer said when we went into the living room, where all the family, along with Doris and Clive, were sat drinking tea. ‘Doris knitted a cat bonnet.’

‘Meow?’ What on earth is a cat bonnet?

Doris proudly held out a knitted red hat, which she then proceeded to put on George’s head. He tried to squirm away but he was too slow. He looked furious – us cats do not like being dressed up, thank you very much; we have lovely fur and that’s enough for us. As he tried to pull it off with his paw, the others admired him.

‘Oh Doris, it’s so cute,’ Claire said, beaming.

‘Perfect fit,’ Clive said.

‘It’s adorable. Doris, will you teach me to do knitting?’ Summer asked.