PostScript What you may or may not like

Three oxen, young, middle-aged and old on a meadow, the young one discovers some lovely cows on a hill and suggests: "Let us run uphill." The middle-aged replies: "No, let us wait, perhaps they'll come downhill." Says the old one: "If we hide in the bushes on the left may be they won't notice us!" - There are three cute black kittens with a white "bib" and white "socks" under my Yucca palm tree outside my front door. They are approximately six to eight weeks old. Did folks from the neighbourhood bring them there? Actually no, it turned out that a cat that has been a regular visitor to my cats' table chose that place for her babies. She joins them there to feed them her milk. Clever little darling, other mother cats that I couldn't take indoors, had to often carry food from my house across the street to their little family. Recently three women and one little boy on various occasions knocked at my door hoping I could provide their young cats with a home, unfortunately I had to turn them away. I hate doing this but any more additions are just not possible, neither financially nor concerning the space. More and more also creates stress for my little treasures, I don't want them to fight because of this. Some cats found a friend or several in my house, others would prefer to be "an only child", some are easy going, gentle and quiet, others very lively and demanding, not unlike us characters can differ a lot. Cats' language doesn't consist of just "mew", they make this sound when they need help, a different one when demanding food, or wanting cuddling or massage to be continued, purring when they are happy or in pain, seems to be a kind of pain killer, some "talk" while eating, appears to mean "delicious" in cat language. And of course there are sounds that advise "don't mess with me, leave me alone." A Tunisian lady returned from her holiday in Germany under the impression that while everybody seems to keep a dog (many on the road kept on a lead) there are not a lot of cats around. Well actually you can find more cats than dogs in Germany. As approx. 90 % of them are living indoors, unlike here, one can easily draw the wrong conclusions. A dog as a toy for disturbed kids (between 5 and 16) seem to be in fashion here, at least in this part of the town. Pretending to kick or hit the poor creature is their understanding of playing, not much fun for the dog though. It makes me mad to watch, I guess one must be grateful if the kids are just pretending and not throwing stones, etc. ! Unfortunately these kids are rarely told how far they can go, where the limits are.  The other day I viewed a little boy, approx 5 or 6 years old at the most (kindergarten diploma) driving a motorcycle standing upright. He did a round of a few streets and returned to his waiting father who seemed to be proud of his son's performance. When I asked him whether the law allows this and a possible accident would be acceptable, he replied that his son desired so much to drive the motorcycle and he stuck to the roads in the neighbourhood. I am glad that a gun in the house is pretty rare here (unlike in USA), what if the toddler wants to shoot a bit? Rumour has it that this week's holiday (one of ever so many) is designed to provide students with time to study at home, judging by what I view I think it is actually in order to provide these kids with extra time to play football, so important, isn't it?