Sandra’s flatmate, Felix, was kind enough to let me move in so we could spend time living together closely. He was in the middle of writing up his PhD thesis and preferred the peace of the countryside so the rent I paid allowed him to do that, which made for a win all round. Except for Mao, his cat, who missed the master that spoiled her terribly. Unlike Felix, we didn’t let her sleep on the bed with us, and we didn’t keep her food bowl topped up all day. She tried to combat this last by meowing in disgust and refusing to eat whenever she could see the bottom of the bowl. For all that we annoyed her, she did grace us with her company and some cute moments during the time I was there.