Cats v Dogs 3

As Mr G will not consent to us shutting Flad in a room with a litter tray and some food and water, I have just sent my friend a long text message (she's on the road most of the day so you can't get her on the phone and she has no email at home) explaining that, as poor Flad is being bullied and beaten up by another cat, he needs access to his home 24/7 so she can't, on this occasion, bring the dog, though she is very welcome without it. I am positive she will send a stiff reply along the lines of, "Well, if my dog's not welcome, I'm not coming."

Really, as an animal owner, she should understand. She's a lovely, lively person who has come through a lot of personal difficulties, surviving cancer, moving from one country to another and starting her own successful business. She is an eternal optimist and inspiring, amusing company. I really do hope she will be sympathetic. If we lived closer to one another and she could just drop round for a couple of hours with the dog, it wouldn't be a problem. I remember her saying to me a few years ago that there were very few people she could visit now, as they all had cats and nobody wanted the dog. She was most upset when one of her relatives insisted she shut it in the garage all over Christmas as they didn't want their three cats upset. But... a dog owner has to see things from a cat owner's viewpoint, and vice versa. And everybody knows that, unless they have been brought up together, cats and dogs don't mix.

Why is it that, when I say 'cats and dogs', I instantly think of women and men? Sod the 'men are from Mars' business. I think I shall write a whole new book on the premise that women are feline and men are canine. Or has someone already done it, as happens to most of my good ideas?