Potvin

His eyes are actually green


One highlight of my visit home last week was seeing Potvin again.

Upon first seeing me, he often struts from the room, as if resentful of my leaving him. This time he appeared while we were eating, came directly over and greeted me: head, chin, arched rump.

When he lived here he would spend all day on the armchair beside my computer, an arm's length away. When I went into hospital for a week in 2002, Bob came to feed the cat daily, but Potvin nearly starved himself. Afterward he remained too depressed to eat or drink. In desperation I offered him wet food; it saved his life. He started consuming huge volumes of water and peeing endlessly, which he still does. I could no longer keep him here, so he went to live with my parents.

Once a day he offers his soft, white belly. In this position, one can actually spin him on a linoleum floor. He is patient with indignity. I believe he quietly spins the world.

He sometimes stares you in the eye, not the cold gaze for which his species is famous, but a thoughtful one. He never hisses or scratches, a gentleman among cats.

My bathroom

Finally, after waiting for two years, it looks like I'll be getting my bathroom renovated. Ceramic tiles have been falling off the walls of the shower and water has been leaking through the floor into the bathroom of the store downstairs. This week Joanne, who works there, noticed water leaking around the drainpipe of my toilet.

When she called the owner, he said he didn't realize there was a problem. Actually, he has conveniently forgotten.

Joanne says the best tactic is to get workmen in, give him a quote and get the work done, then he'll pay for it. So this morning two plumbers came and stood in my bathroom with grim expressions.

They need to do the job soon, and it's going to take a week. They said they would try to replace the toilet as quickly as possible, but it will take a day or two. I won't have a shower for most of the time. So it looks like have to clear out for a few days. I'll figure out when I can do it and let the landlord know. By then they will have a price for him.

Meanwhile my shower is taped up with plastic. Downstairs, they had to set up supports under the floor around my toilet. They asked me to be careful.