Joshy and I had an adventure in 2013. We set off from Preston on Saturday afternoon on a train. Joshy had never been on a train before so he was a bit unsure at first but as I was with him he knew I would never let him come to harm and he soon settled down and began to enjoy having a seat all to himself. He even watched the towns, villages and countryside go by from the window. It was actually great fun!

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We then had a bit of a trek across London Euston station to get a black cab for a ride to the hotel - we went through lots of London streets we had heard of and even went through Hyde Park - that was very pretty. Eventually we got to the hotel and we were able to relax in the posh room after checking in.

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The next day I wheeled Joshy in his posh new pet stroller for 5 minutes to Earls Court 2 where we a very nice vet checked him over and declared him fit to enter then he was put into a partly decorated pen. I think he was a bit confused as  usually if he is in a decorated pen it has curtains all round and this only had them on two sides but it was so the public could see him when he was in there. It was very exciting as Joshy was booked to be the model for a talk on cats by the famous vet, Richard Allport in the afternoon after also being a model for  Tania Murray who is known as the Vidal Sassoon of the Cat Fancy!!

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Joshy had just settled down to have a rest in the morning when judge  Mrs Anne Gregory, who was organising the cat side of things, asked if we could go to do the talk now instead of in the afternoon! So off we went, and Joshy was soon being cuddled by the  Mr Allport who asked about him and said one of his sons was called Josh, wasn’t that cool!  Joshy had to sit in front of him on a podium and be good while he told the audience how to look after cats, from feeding and grooming through to vaccinations and health care. He was mostly very good but did get a tiny bit fidgety and bored in pl;aces, and then they brought in a parrot, he was sooo BIG that I think Joshy was not sure if the parrot was meant to be his dinner or if he was meant to be the parrot’s!!  Anyway, the talk ended and he went back for a short nap before being put on Tania’s grooming table to be talked about again. She told everyone how to groom Joshy then he was able to go back  and have another rest.

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There was another Selkirk with us, in the next pen, a young chap called The Mop (which Joshy thought was rather a silly name but he did have a posh pedigree name too, just his owner called him The Mop). He was actually Joshy's nephew which was rather good. We took it in turns to let the cats have a rest in the pen and to be out on the table next to the pen  so that people could see them and stroke them and ask questions about them.  I don’t think Joshy had ever been stroked so much in his life at one go - even at cat shows! It was quite fun and I was very happy because people smiled when they looked at Joshy (but he wasn't sure about being likened to Garfield all the time!). And I lost track of how many people took his photograph!, Again, he had never had his photograph taken so much except by me!!!!  It was a busy, busy day and although he enjoyed all the fuss and the attention I think he was quite glad to get back to the hotel

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We both had a good night’s sleep and then the next day it was back to Euston by taxi, Joshy then dozed for an hour  while the we had coffee and we waited for our train.  We were going back in the posh bit - first class, but it was not as good as when we came as it was full and we had a table and his carrier wouldn't fit so he had to come out and sit on my knee ALL the journey. He did doze but it wasn’t as comfy as the bed in his carrier but we managed - and he was able to look out  of the window again. We knew we were getting near home when it started raining!    

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Eventually we got home and Joshy was able to go round and make sure everyone had been good in his absence and that everyone had coped without us. He then went out into the run for an hour to get some fresh air and feel the wind in his fur again and then it was zonk time! It had been a very, very busy and tiring weekend but we all had a great time and, who knows, we may even be purrsuaded to do it again next year!