For those who are wondering ‘Why the Black Cat?’, here is the answer. Comfort (1985-2002) was the original black cat, my much-loved pet for seventeen years. She was a very sociable cat, always seeking my attention, and she loved to get between me and the keyboard when I was working at the PC. Often she would skilfully sit on the space bar, so that I’d find the screen blank and panic for a moment, thinking that I’d somehow deleted my document. I’d then find that it simply had several dozen pages full of carriage returns…
Comfort was a great traveller, and regularly made the 100-mile journey with me to my parents’ house in Bedfordshire. She also went twice to County Durham for Christmas, and came on holiday with me to Derbyshire and to Cornwall. She wasn’t keen on the actual process of travelling, but once she got there she loved it, especially if there was chicken for dinner. She was a remarkably adaptable cat who could settle into a new environment with no apparent stress.
In later life she became profoundly deaf and afraid to go outside. So she lived a quiet, protected existence indoors, happily occupying my lap whenever possible. She finally died at the ripe old age of seventeen, and is still very much missed.
She lives on, though, in the Black Cat logo that unites my website and blog.
