Monday, May 10, 2010

The cat and the sink

Our one-year-old cat is very fussy about the source of his drinking water. He will never come when he's called and will hide for hours if even one non-resident person enters the house, but if we turn on the kitchen tap he'll come running for a drink.

The kitchen sink is one of his favourite sitting spots. Not beside it or near it, but in it. He licks at the end of the faucet and waits for someone to fill the kettle or a saucepan, hoping for a drip. Sometimes we let the water trickle for a few minutes and then watch him perform contortions as he tries to get a drink without getting wet.  When he's had enough he reclines on the draining board as if it were a velvet pillow.

Recently he was confused when we had a new sink installed because at first there was no tap.  He jumped in the sink, quizzically sniffing for the water supply and finding none.  Now, because of an error in manufacture, the counter and sink are going to be removed next week, and returned to us two days later as good as new, but with everything moved two inches to the right. There will be a minimum of 48 hours that we will be without sink, counter or tap.  I wonder what the cat will make of that.