The people in your neighbourhood

Who are the people in your neighbourhood?



We have a new neighbour. He started dropping by shortly after he moved in, but we don't actually know his name. We've deduced that he lives next door. We don't particularly like the look of him. We also have a name and a song for him. But, unlike the song from Sesame Street, neither are very complimentary.

When we first caught a glimpse of our new neighbour skulking around in our backyard, we, naturally, chased him away and thought it would be the last we saw of him. He returned. Repeatedly. We wondered whether we needed to call an aid agency, as he seemed to have nowhere to go and is incredibly skinny and unhealthy-looking. We came to realise that he probably lives right next door, and this is how he is supposed to look! And so the name Mangy Cat came about, and a version of this song from Friends, sung by Phoebe Buffay, has become his theme song. Mangy Cat, Mangy Cat ...

However, Zed is quite taken with our new neighbour. He's usually quite a good guard cat, determinedly chasing away others as fast as his 11-year-old legs can carry him, yet he will happily let Mangy Cat come inside and eat his own (expensive) food, barely raising a paw! Mangy Cat knows he's not supposed to be in the backyard and tries to hide under bushes where he thinks we can't see him, but comes back, defiantly, within minutes. Squirting him with water doesn't do much; he just stares straight back at you with contempt. Zed also had fleas recently; I'm pretty sure I know where they've come from.

We've tried to sit down with Zed and talk to him about making suitable friend choices. We've offered him a range of alternative, yet more suitable, cat friends in the area, like the beautiful white one he seems insistent on chasing away, or the fluffy grey one who wanders past occasionally, but with no success. Mangy Cat seems to be a fixture in the neighbourhood for the time being.

There's obviously no accounting for taste.