Melbourne: Part 1

As you know, I sent Kate to Melbourne a few weeks ago to investigate the local cat culture. After all the busyness of Christmas, I've finally had time to sit down and go through her findings. As you would expect, there weren't too many cats to be found in the CBD... not real cats, anyway. There were, however, a good number of VHQCTs (very high-quality cat tributes) to be found:

This VHQCT shop display is from a store called Genki in Cathedral Arcade off Swanston St (right in the city, for those of you who aren't familiar with the Melbs...). Kate says that it sells 'really cute stuff'.

This might be in slightly poor taste, but this shop on Brunswick St, Fitzroy was trying to solicit custom by displaying a tiger's head rug in its window! (Don't worry guys, I checked with Kate, it's fake. Although they do have real tigers at the Melbourne Zoo, including three new tiger cubs that aren't yet on display.)

But by far the best and most high-quality VHQCT was this awesome piece of graffitti art that Kate found in an alley off Centre Place, which runs between Flinders Lane and Collins Street and has lots of funky little shops and cafes. I think it is some kind of cat god. I think the artist based it (loosely) on me, what with all the browns and blacks. Apart from this amazing cat tribute, Kate said that there's lots of other non-cat-related graffitti in this alley that's worth checking out if you're ever in Melbourne, which I don't ever intend to be, because that's what Kate is for.

I'm thinking of sending Kate to Melbourne again when the tiger cubs are on display in the New Year. Meanwhile, stay tuned for Part 2 of Kate's report from Melbourne, which features some real live Melbourne cats!

Cheers,
--Pabs

A very Pabby Christmas...

I don't really do Christmas. As you can see from poor Kate's attempts to take my 'Christmas portrait' to submit to our local newspaper:

Tinsel is spiky. It puts me on edge.

I think she was going for some kind of Godzilla thing here...

But I kinda got into the Christmas spirit a coupla days ago when I got a present from my small human friend Elijah. People call him Liji Beau. I think his mum helped him with the card and the wrapping...

This was what was inside: a red mousie! I love it. Thanks, Liji Beau!

And this was a thoughtful present from my friend Sarah. It's a great read (sorry for the slightly out-of-focus pic).

So like Macaulay Calkin before me, I'm home alone for Christmas. But unlike Macaulay, I'm not ordering cheese pizzas to keep me going. Aunty Tracey and Uncle Simon are going to be checking in on me/feeding me/ letting me in and out twice daily. Sweet! The rest of the time, I can hang out undisturbed. And it's not THFC! It actually snowed today on our mountain (not in the town). Fancy that in the middle of summer! But Nick and Kate missed out on that. Sucked in.

Anyway, Merry Christmas to the cats of the world (and dogs, especially Sidney and Sherman), their housepeople and my loyal Pablog readership. May your chickens be fat and cooked to perfection! As always, a special Christmas hello to my Pablo Fan Club chairfelines, Phoebe and Monica.

Cheers,

--Pabs

Goodbye Jupe...

Jupe in his West Hobart days

It is with heavy whiskers that I share the news that the West Hobart Tigers has lost one of its non-playing members. Jupe Richardson (a former West Hobart resident who retired to the seaside town of Kettering in late 2005), was accidentally run over and killed just a few weeks ago. Jupe was a fine cat, and a very skilful hunter. We could learn a lot from him. Since moving to Kettering, where his grandpa has an awesome property, he has been hunting and killing rabbits regularly, even catching one on the day before he died! I've never caught a rabbit. I bet it's awesome. So goodbye, Jupe! As we say here at the Tigers, 'Go forward to kicks the goal!' Our thoughts go out to Damon, Tineke, Django and Steve – Jupe’s human family.

A super duper special

Attention, shoppers: Whiskas tinned cat food is on super-duper special at Woolworths supermarkets in Tasmania this week at just 79 cents a can! That's a saving of 56 cents per can. Tell your housepeople! Their semi-regular special is 99 cents. A few weeks ago, it was 89 cents, and now this! At these prices, Kate bought up big:

Now, there's a trap for young players when it comes to buying tinned cat food on special: watch out for the 'casserole' or 'mince' varieties. Don't get sucked into buying them. Always go the loaf style. The others (especially the casserole variety) are just filled with gravy and are thus a rip-off, as well as being a bit too rich for cats' tummies (mine, anyway).

... and don't forget that the Hobart Cat Centre cat food drive is still on at Woolworths. This special makes it even more affordable to help out the local strays. Why not do it today?

In other news, I'm sending Kate to Melbourne tomorrow on a cat culture reconnaisance mission. I'm letting her take my digital camera so she can document the profile of felines in Australia's coolest city. She'll be back on Sunday. Look out for a report from her when she returns! Meanwhile, Nick will have to feed me and care for my needs, which he pretends to hate but secretly loves.

Cheers,
--Pabs