Lost Breakfast

As you all know, the Servants have to prioritise in this household which means that the moment the alarm goes off I leap out of bed, go straight to the kitchen, past the previously filled kettle to flip on the switch and to put Maddys food on a plate and present it to her as she walks out of the sitting-room, blinking sleepily.

This morning the Man Servant managed to get out of bed at a reasonable hour so breakfast for us was going to be a bit early and he cut a couple of slices of left over roast beef for me to enjoy with my fried egg. Maddy of course got her fair share of sliced beef after her own breakfast and then I took her out to do her toileting. It was dark and foggy out at that time of morning and I usually go out first to make sure the coast is clear for her and then she will venture out by the light of my torch, taking her own sweet time.  I stood there in the dark and cold with my torch lighting up the toilet area for her pleasure - there was much scrabbling under the bushes but Maddy whipped past me whilst my back was turned and slipped back inside. I was left standing there like an idiot.   Eventually I gathered that I had been  fooled....  and came in to find her in the kitchen partaking of my piece of breakfast beef, stolen off my plate.  As you can see in the photo ... she had almost finished it by then!

Her Majesty's daily routine

Maddy has re discovered her Igloo now that the weather has turned chilly … she blends in and is difficult to see but when she looks up, we see her “headlights” flashing ! She has always slept on her "chosen " chair but a couple of days ago I went into the sitting-room to call her for breakfast which in itself is most unusual and I couldnl't find her. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a movement in the Igloo and there she was all warm and snug!

Maddy has a routine  in the mornings, in which  we are now fully trained.  First and most important … Foooood, followed by a long brushing and out to the garden toilet area … nothing else will do. I have to stand outside in pj’s, thick woolly dressing gown, boots and torch in hand … thank the lord it is still dark ….  poking around in the undergrowth to make sure there are no marauding cats around before she will come out for her ablutions. Depending on the urgency, this can take a while as there has to be much snuffling around to find the right place and of course sending and receiving P-mails.

Of course when she comes back inside she tells The Man Servant, (who by now has just about managed to get out of bed), with a straight face, that the “Woman”  has neglected her morning brush and she wants it NOW!!

Maddy's Chair

I have come to the conclusion that Maddy has been spoilt rotten and the Man Servant is the biggest culprit. Maddy comes into the kitchen and chirrups until she has been given another portion of wet food ... which , if it's not to her liking, she ignores with a disdainful look. Today the Man Servant was called into the sitting-room. He stupidly assumed that she wanted her 5th brushing of the day but this was not the case, what she actually wanted, was for the fire to be put on ... and she showed both her Servants in no uncertain terms  what she wanted. Naturally the fire was put on for her ... who could deny her that!!

Maddy sleeps on her “own” chair which she selected shortly after arriving here and which  is positioned in the sitting room in such a way that she can see everything going on down the passage. The chair is of course, equipped with a cushion and a sheep-skin rug for her comfort.  Needless to say, it is the most comfortable chair in the sitting-room and used to be the one that visitors naturally gravitated to but that is a thing of the past.

When her female servant has come in from her duties, the first job is to prepare a mid-morning snack of a few pieces of cheese and this is taken in to her, walking quietly so as not to unduly disturb her. The snack then has to be carefully positioned in such a way that she doesn’t have to get up off the chair in order to eat it.

Maddy's Musings

I have managed to get my Servants trained in my morning routine. First of all I am served breakfast at 06.30 and I am then escorted to the outside commode and as these facilities are a little primitive, I hope that they will improve before the onset of winter.

After that, I have a pampering session being brushed in turn by each of my Servants and then I settle down for my morning nap accompanied by some gentle classical music.

The new Servants seem to be settling in well, so much so that the Woman Servant, who knows that I have a sofisticated palate, insisted that the Man Servant down tools and rush off to the butcher just before closing time to purchase a Free Range Chicken Breast for my enjoyment. This was very thoughtful of them but for some unknown reason they kept serving it to me and to be quite honest, I got quite bored after the third plateful and I would have preferred a portion of succulent steak, after all, if one eats lobster every night, one does get a little bored. However, one mustn’t grumble, they are doing their best and they try hard!!

Evenings are always a pleasure as they ensure that there is a fire in my room making it warm and cosy which is somewhat spoilt by the fact that they have been granted my reluctant permission to come in and watch a bit of TV.  I will have to put my paw down about this before they start taking it for granted and getting too familiar. After all who’s TV is it??