My mum has gone away – again! She did tell me this time and said she wouldn’t be long, but it does seem like a long time, even though I’m keeping her bed warm and keeping an eye on things. I’m grateful to get replacement cuddles from others here.

Well it’s cold and wet now. Visitors think Syros is warm in the winter but it’s not. There are some nice days, but when it rains, we all run for cover.

The good news is that Olive is doing much better. She has inhalers twice a day, which she doesn’t like very much but isn’t making too much fuss. Maybe she knows they are helping her breathing. She’s still in the house, in a big cage as she can’t be vaccinated, so mustn’t mix with the other cats. But the volunteers take her out for cuddles, which she loves and she’s playing with toys in her cage now, so she obviously feels better. Ouzaki, who came with her is fine, she’s had her jabs and is having a great time romping around with some other kittens who arrived.

It’s been olive season on the island, so our volunteers have been helping whenever they can. It’s a lot of hard work picking them all and getting them to the press. It has to settle before it can be used. But the wine, which was made in September, from local grapes is ready! It’s quite good this year, I’m told. But I don’t care to taste it myself.

Two of our helpers go every Monday and Tuesday to trap some of the wilder cats for neutering. They caught more than thirty last week! We have enough kittens on the island – only a week or so ago three babies came to one of our village feeding stations, they were very small and had no road sense, so of course, now they are back here. As if we need more kittens! Good news though – more than ten cats went to their forever homes, since I wrote last time.

We all had a terrible scare, when Frosty, one of our long-term residents, disappeared. You might remember him – he’s a cat with ‘attitude’ and often spoiling for a fight, in spite of having lost most of his teeth. He’s lost his ears too, white cats don’t do well in strong Greek sunshine. Anyway, one night he just didn’t come home for supper. Everyone hunted for him. They were all crying, thinking something dreadful had happened. We didn’t know where he was either, although we had a good look around as well. He was missing for three days and we were all giving up hope. Then suddenly one evening, just before supper time, when it had been raining hard, he strolled back as if nothing had happened. But he was filthy – and dirt shows badly on his very white fur – and very hungry. We were all angry with him for going away, but very relieved to see him back and I didn’t resent all the cuddles and fuss he was given.

Now the local bars and tavernas have closed for the winter, lots of street cats are coming to our feeders – they are all really hungry. Hailey has reclaimed her comfortable chair. She’s a big cat, but has no idea how to look graceful! I think I’m a bit tired too, so will have a snooze on my mum’s bed until the rain stops. I’m grateful to be an indoor Syros Cat.

Talk to you soon, tiraa!

Junior