Time Spent with Cats
© Time Spent with cats 2019
Time Spent with…
Gil, Jess & Tia
‘Let’s try a few biscuits’ suggests Gillian, pouring some Go-Cat into a
bowl and rattling it, ‘Biscuits might work’.
I’m in the pretty Yorkshire village of Luddendenfoot (Isn’t that a great name?!) to spend time with Gil and her two rescue cats, Jess and Tia, neither of whom is keen to be photographed. One has disappeared upstairs while the other is giving me a disapproving stare from underneath the coffee table. We’ve tried pretty much every trick in our joint cat-persuading repertoire, but the girls have us sussed and are not falling for any of it. The biscuit idea doesn’t work either, but biscuits certainly work for us humans so Gil and I settle down for a cup of tea, a biscuit and a chat. Jess and Tia are sisters who were about three years old when Gil adopted them. They had been left behind when someone moved house and were rescued by the Cats Protection League. Sadly, Gil’s cat, Smithers, (so named because Gil’s surname is Burns and she wanted to hear the vet call out ‘Smithers Burns’ in the waiting room!) had died a while back and Gil felt that the time was now right to adopt a couple of rescue cats. Off she went to the CPL, where she fell in love with Jess and Tia. ‘The girls had lived outside for a while and then been fostered ready for re-homing’ says Gil ‘and The Cats Protection said they were feral, but they weren’t’. After Jess and Tia came to live with Gil, it soon became clear that they weren’t feral at all; just very timid and understandably wary of humans. ‘They still have such awful anxiety. I think they spent the first 3 years of their lives being kicked and have never really trusted me since I adopted them. They’re not ones to be cuddled!’ Tia peeps out from under the coffee table with a look that says ‘Damn right, human! We don’t even let you cuddle us if we can help it, so this one with the camera here needn’t get any ideas!’ then flicks the tip of her tail at me just to make sure we all understand each other. Even now the girls have the love of a good human and a calm, safe place to live, their anxiety hasn’t gone away; both girls have recently had water infections, most likely stress related. Meanwhile Gil tells me a little about living close to the renowned creative hub of Hebden Bridge and its well-known quirkiness (I’m pleased to say that everything I’ve heard about the place turns out to be true!). It’s not only a beautiful part of country to live in, but has a vibrant arts scene and real sense of community, albeit one that can be a bit New Age Hippy-ish. Hebden Bridge and the surrounding area, of course, suffered badly in severe flooding at the end of 2015 and local people worked together to help each other and get the area back on its feet. Gil tells me that as well as the much- needed practical help and support that was provided, the local community laid on a free Gong Bath for flood victims – definitely an ‘only in Hebden Bridge’ moment! Nearby Todmorden hosts an annual community-based ‘Pushing up the Daisies’ festival, which aims to encourage conversations about death, dying and loss and to help people talk about these things in a kinder and more supportive way. Gil and I are agreed that this is something that’s much needed and long overdue. Gil herself is a community dance artist, performer and choreographer. She does a lot of circus arts too, as well as playing in a ceilidh band, the Beau Dillies, and she’s currently busy promoting a theatre company she runs with a friend. Her work is enviably varied and interesting but as with all the arts in the UK, funding is harder and harder to come by so it’s by no means easy. A lot of her work is with large groups and her specialism is choreographing untrained adult dancers. She particularly enjoys choreographing flash mobs and parades, and one of her favourites is Hebden’s annual ‘Handmade Parade’. Something I’d never realised until Gil tells me is that when leading dancers in a parade, she has to do all the same moves they do but while going backwards (which brings to mind the well-known quote by Ginger Rogers who said of Fred Astaire ‘I do everything he does, only backwards and in high heels!’). Over the years, Gil’s perfected her backwards-dancing-directing technique to the point where she’s now in demand to teach it to others, and she hosts workshops to do just that. Gil and I continue chatting while the cats update their friends outside on the situation. Gil studied for her MA in the Netherlands and she tells me that people there don’t give up dancing as they get older, as they tend to do here in the UK, and it’s quite common for them to continue dancing throughout their lives. It’s referred to as ‘Amateur Dance’ and taken seriously. It’s often performed to a high standard and Gil’s worked with amateur dancers there who are as good as professionals. When Tia reappears in the room, we decide to try dangling her favourite toy. She shows a little bit of interest but it’s clear she knows exactly what I’m up to. Gil tells me that while Tia likes playing with toys, Jess – the more serious of the two sisters - just gets frustrated by them. ‘She can’t cope with catnip either’ says Gil ‘In fact, we wonder if she might have suffered an injury when she was young and being mistreated, that left her with a little bit of damage’. We give up on toys and I try slow-blinking instead and I think I get a blink back, but I suspect Tia’s jusst wondering what this idiot human is up to now and humouring me. It occurs to me that if anyone had filmed our various cat-charming efforts this afternoon – upstairs, downstairs, in and out of the house - it would have made amusing viewing. In fact, as I type this, I’m seeing it in my head speeded up and set to the Benny Hill Theme. ‘They don’t really respond to treats either’, says Gil. ‘We think they might have been punished for treats when they were young. Chicken is safe though!’ Jess and Tia have been through awful trauma in their early lives, and it’s lovely to see them now in a loving home with human and feline friends around them. It’s clear the sisters have stayed close to each other. ‘They do snuggle together’ says Gil, ‘but they’re different sizes, so I’ll see them sleeping there and Jess will be all squashed up!’ They are more relaxed with women than men, but fortunately they’re o.k. with Gil’s partner because he’s quite quiet and gentle around them. Fully overcoming the shadow of their early life is, understandably, going to take time but seeing them at home with Gil it’s clear that they’re in the right place to do just that. Sometimes Jess will snuggle with Gil on top of a blanket, as long as Gil’s feet are safely underneath the blanket. ‘And Sometimes I try to get them in a hug, but it all ends in disaster!’ Gil tells me. ‘Occasionally I manage it though’ she says, as she succeeds in scooping nearby Tia into her arms ‘but she’s not keen!’ As I head to my car, I see the sisters disappearing off across the road conspiratorially, presumably for a debrief meeting on the events of the morning. Meanwhile, Karen from next door suns herself on a wall, Gordon inspects the flower pots, and cat business as usual continues.
Privacy
The quiet row of stone cottages where Gil and the girls live is
home to a large and colourful community of cats and, as it’s a
sunny day, several of them are outside enjoying the sunshine
and milling around in and out of each other’s gardens. A
couple of them are very happy say hello and even to pose for
the camera, particularly Karen, a very pretty tortoiseshell lady.
Inside the house, meanwhile, Jess and Tia seem to be
becoming more and more determined not to pose for me,
although I think I detect signs that Jess may be softening a
little when she creeps into the room and scrutinises my
handbag with distaste. I, optimistic human fool that I am, take
this to be progress.
As we chat, the girls make brief appearances (probably to check
if I’ve gone yet) and at any sign of a thawing in hostilities, I
sneakily pick up my camera but all I get is a hard glare from
underneath a table or the blur of a tail as one of them makes a
sharp exit from the room. They’re definitely keeping tabs on us
though, as cats do; taking it all in.
Gil and I occasionally abandon our tea and chat to attempt a
very quiet pincer movement when we think one of the girls may
have settled somewhere, but the cottage is perfect for cats
because it has lots of sleeping and hiding places on different
floors and, sure enough, they continue to outwit us. I’m highly
delighted when I finally manage eye contact with Jess and she
allows me a quick picture from the bottom of the stairs!
Tia slinks through again, giving me a sideways glance, and I raise
my camera hopefully. We follow her into the garden to see if she’s
more amenable to being photographed out there amongst her
feline friends. The neighbourhood cats are observing it all -
including Gordon, a handsome black cat and, apparently, keen
hunter. This area must be perfect hunting territory for cats. ‘The
girls are not really hunters’, Gil tells me ‘although I have seen Tia
eat a mouse in 3 bites before’. Clever Tia has now outsourced
her hunting operations; she has an ‘arrangement’ with Gordon,
who catches the mice for her. Or at least he catches them and
leaves them on his doorstep, from where Tia claims them. Both
cats seem happy with the arrangement. Jess and Tia do seem to
be a little more at ease now and I manage to sneak a few quick
shots. I get big ideas and attempt to get in with a quick stroke of
one of them and almost manage it. Almost.
Left: Karen
Below: Tia looks on disapprovingly. My handbag has
been inspected and found wanting.
Above: Nope. Not coming out!
Below: ‘Oh, alright then. ONE photo’. Tia eventually agrees to take one for
the team
Above and below left: Jess
Above and below: Important cat business going on in the
neighbourhood
Left: Tia
Above: Gil enjoys a rare cuddle with Tia
above left and below: Tia in the garden
Left: ‘No, I will not say “cheese”’.
Right: ‘I didn’t reckon much to the
human with the camera, did you?’
‘No, but you have to humour them,
don’t you?’
Gillian Burns is a community dance artist: www.Gilburnsdance.co.uk. She’s also on Instagram: @Gildoesbridges, @kerfufflestreettheatre and @ceilidhbeaus
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