Now we finally arrived back home in still icy Berlin. It was a rather long route back, due to various delays caused by the after effects of winter storm Emma pestering much of Europe.

After a Sunday mostly slept through, we slowly come to our senses. And are very happy indeed, to be with our cat Lilly again. We had her staying over with a nice, elderly couple, sweetheart knows from the bridge club. They used to have a cat themselves and offered to take our Lilly while we were away. It was her first time away from home and I hear, she was well behaved.

Apart from the fact, that, of course, she wanted out of the house. Which was not allowed for fear that she would run away and try to find a way back home. However, she is a master in the art of begging and pleading looks. So it didn’t take long for her hosts to buy a special cat harness in the hope, they might be able to take our cat for a walk like a dog. Lilly was not amused. She merely slid on her belly, in order to get rid of the thing. So she had to stay inside until we came to take her home. So did the hosts, by the way. Because they didn’t want to leave the cat alone. What nice folks. But we could tell, they were glad to see us pic up the cat.

So were we. And by now, Lilly is, too. Yesterday, she mostly spent showing us, that she still is upset by what we did to her.  Abandoning her with complete strangers for so long. One could clearly tell, the cat was in a huff. And, of course, demanding to be let out. Despite the cold. She never ventured much further that our own garden, but is now slowly enlarging her territory back to normal.

Same will be the case for me, come Thursday, when my holidays end for good and I will be back to work. Until then, I try to get my sore finger back into typing shape. For the time being, it still is on strike, swollen fat and refuses to be moved much. But at least I got rid of the metal splint keeping the entire hand still, today. Thus I am able to do most things alone, again. One only realises, how much depends on the use of both hands, if one of them is out of order.

It was great to get away for a while. Boy, did I need the sun after this year’s drab and dark winter! Even though storm Emma infringed our right to sunshine and fine weather during the second week of our stay, I still enjoyed myself very much. Now I am able to wait for a few more weeks for spring to arrive.