(no subject)

[turps]

turlough your parcel arrived today, I won't open it yet as you said it's a birthday gift, but, thank you! Also, thank you to misbegotten for the fabulous postcard ♥ ♥

It's so much warmer today, the weekend was so cold, the kind of winter I was very much DNW about. A freezing wind on top of minus temps was not something I enjoyed at all. It did prompt me and James to finally tape up the gaps in the windows that were letting in drafts, so that was another job done. A temp one though as we'll need to pay to get them resealed properly I think, but other things need doing first.

Valentine's Day meant an exchange of cards, same as always. With it being in the same week as mine and Corey's birthdays, as well as nanna's and my grandad's when they were alive, something had to give money wise and it was always Valentine's. But, a card is more than enough. If you do celebrate though, I hope you were spoilt rotten.

I really enjoyed The Masked Singer final, I suspected one of the finalists but the top two were a total surprise.

I suspected Robin was Aston Merrygold and knew for sure once he said his glove clue.

But the top two, I loved Ne-Yo's performance as Badger, he was so great!

Watch on YouTube

Joss Stone was a worthy winner and seemed to be having the time of her life which was nice to see. Also impressive she was performing so energetically while heavily pregnant.

Watch on YouTube

February is for things I love

Cat cafes!

I'm lucky enough to have three cat cafes, and a dog cafe, in easy travelling distance. The one we go to most is Mog on the Tyne in Newcastle. At this point we've been so often we've seen many of the cats grow from kittens and enjoy every visit. Mog's cats are all rescues that stay there full time and the whole place has a great vibe. You do have to love cats to go there because often you spent time protecting your food from cats wanting a bite, for example, the last time we could go one of the cats took a big bite out of James' cake before he could move it out of the way.

Also in Newcastle is Catpawchino. That cafe has a much calmer vibe and is full of pedigree cats that go home on a night. I like it, and enjoy going especially as it's on the quayside which makes for good people watching.

The last one is the newest and only opened just before COVID hit, which is such a shame. The Pawsome Cat Cafe is in Durham, literally a minutes walk from our favourite cinema, so I know once things open again we'll probably go often. It's a sister cafe to Catpawchino which means the cats are also pedigree, but because it was so new the cats were also new so liked to come sit on your knee and snuggle. Sadly we only got to go twice before everything had to lockdown, but we'll be back.

Like I said, there's also a dog cafe in Newcastle, Dog and Scone, which is actually next door to Mog. I like dogs so we've been a couple of times, but mostly the cats win out.

Comments

[pensnest]

The cat (and dog) cafés have such great names!

[turlough]

I'm so relieved to hear my gift arrived in time! With international mail being the way it is right now I worried.

You really don't want it to be windy when the temperature is already freezing so I'm glad to hear your weather's turned warmer. Here in Sweden houses are built to withstand winter in way yours just don't seem to be.

Cat cafes seem like such fun places to visit. I always enjoy hearing of your visits to the Mog. Hopefully you will soon be able to do so again!

[shadowhive]

Yay gifts!

Those two were such a surprise!

Those all sounds so cute! I wanna go back to the Birmingham one sometime

[tara]

If someone opened a dog cafe near us, they would get ALL of our money. Mog on the Tyne was so lovely to visit :)

[frausorge]

I am very jealous of your cat cafes! I think there's one in San Francisco, but I've never been. Maybe when we reach the after times, I'll see if I can go. In any case, what a grand concept to have places designed specifically for cat hangouts!

[dine]

I hope it continues to warm up there - this has been a brutal month for so many all over, cold-wise.

happy birthday week! I'm sadly, not great at tracking those, but I do wish you the best

[turps]

I think planning a visit to a cat cafe when things are reopened and safe is a great idea. It's always good to have something to look forward to.

[turps]

The weather has been so weird here. It was much colder than the seasonal usual all of last week, especially the latter part of the week. Now it's much higher than seasonal usual so most of the snow is gone and the sun is shining like late spring.

Thank you! I'm bad at tracking birthdays too. I rely on the birthday reminders at LJ and here a lot.

[turps]

When you visit -- which I know will be a while, but will happen at some point -- we'll go to Dog and Scone together.

Last time we were there the pug took a liking to James' head and spent ages licking it *g*

[turps]

I was shocked for them both. I really enjoyed Masked Singer this year, the quality seemed really high in terms of the performers.

I hope you do get to go back to the Birmingham cat cafe, they're such great things.

And I've just looked up that cafe just to see if it has a cat punny name and it does, The Kitty Cafe, it looks fantastic.

[turps]

The mail is all over the place right now. I've just been on the phone to the doctors about the results from the test I had done in December and she mentioned they had the results -- which was fine, but that mail was really backed up. All I could think was, yeah, I know.

I suspect most houses in the UK are built for 'normal' weather, nothing too hot or cold. Which is fine mostly, except for when it gets really cold or really hot. Last weekend was so cold, and we had to keep the heating on constant just to stay at a nice temperature inside.

If you ever come to the NE I'll take you to Mog. They are fun places, but you do have to love cats as some of the younger ones haven't learnt food etiquette yet *g*

[turps]

I do enjoy a good naming pun :)

[shadowhive]

Yeah I’d never have thought them!

It’s so cute! I think I posted pics but I’m not sure. It’s in a pretty strange location though, tucked away just above the station

[brandywine28]

I dream of visiting a cozy, vibe-filled cat cafe like the ones you're describing! All we have 'round these parts are bodega cats -- and you can't even pet them because they're WORKING. Ugh.

[turps]

I've seen photos of bodega cats and while I like the idea of a store having its own cat, what's the point if you can't pet them?!

If you ever come to these parts we would hit up every cat cafe!