After an initial miscommunication with a child's voice - (somehow it was assumed I must have found the pet safe and well) I was handed over to a much more grounded, but slightly weary voice. I sensed early on in the brief exchange that the lady's emotions towards "Miffy" were clearly raw, perhaps to the point that they were being suppressed as she was quite eager to abandon all talk on the matter and draw the conversation to a close. I could of course sympathise with this but before ringing off I did take the opportunity to present some findings from my own investigation.
Firstly, I pondered the significance of the novel 'The Clan of The Cave Bear' lying in the picture at "Miffy's" feet. Was "Miffy" a fan of historical fiction? I was informed this was not the case. It was simply an unread library book since returned. Next, though it may seem a little mercenary - in these times it could be a deal-breaker - Why was no reward offered? In a sort of long verbal sigh the woman explained they were on benefits and the cat wasn't insured and essentially, the black and white photocopying at the corner shop was to be the extent of their financial input into the hunt. I did quip that a family who drink 2 litre bottles of Sainsbury's Caledonian water (over "Miffy's" left shoulder) may be able to make some savings to aid the return of a loved one. But still, before I was hung up on, I did manage to offer some helpful advice. This being that in future it may help to correctly format the photo before printing. It appeared to me the image was stretched and thus "Miffy" seemed to have an overly wide, squashed head. Avoiding this effect which will have no doubt had the neighbourhood wrongly searching for an egg-headed cat would be easy in most desktop publishing packages by simply holding 'shift' whilst pulling the axis to enlarge the low resolution photo.
It could have made the difference.
Anyway, it wasn't to be and realising presentation isn't the strong point of this unfortunate household, I've had this framed in "Miffy's" memory and, as no address was listed on the hand-out, I've printed the URL to this blog post and posted it through some doors. If that's you I spoke to today get in touch and I'll be happy to deliver you this keepsake.
ps. David Thorne knows more about this than me.
