Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Napoleonic Code-Breaker
Keen as we were to begin work on the 'school', Fox's death brought with it more pressing mat-
ters. Natalie decided that the cats now had to become house cats, whether they liked it or not,
a situation which they obviously found quite confusing since they were born feral, brought in-
side, sent outside when they became too boisterous and were now inside again. The ruthless
weather meant that they weren't too fussed about being indoors, though, and even if they had
been I'm not sure I'd have been able to tell the difference. All cats it seems have the demeanour
of truculent teenagers and a permanent look of 'yeah, like whatevah'. They certainly don't give
much away; they would be good at poker would cats.
The other change was to have the surviving cats neutered, which had always been on the
cards anyway with the appointment booked for the following week. And we still wanted to go
ahead with that. We'd been told that it would calm them down a bit and mean that Flame espe-
cially wouldn't be tempted to 'spray'. Spraying being a cat's 'calling card' as it were, containing
all the details another cat may need to know, like your age, sex etc. and presumably that you
have a nasty habit of making furniture smell like acid wee. It's a filthy business and my ward-
robe, following 'Spraygate' on Christmas Day, was demanding action.
The French have a strange attitude to neutering that hovers between ambivalence and outright
hostility. For the most part those who have animals around us here have working animals,
hunting dogs for instance, but there is a definite reluctance to have male animals castrated.
The French do not want the 'maleness' removed from their male animals, even if that means
dealing with the inevitable consequences further down the line. It is considered an affront to
all males, animal or human.
I had some experience of this, as in the previous year I'd had a vasectomy. There, I said it out
loud. Ever since I'd had 'le snip' I kept it as something of a secret because of the taboo nature
of the subject in France. We'd even kept it a secret from the boys in case they said something
about it at school; it really is that sensitive a subject. The reasons for having a vasectomy may,
on the face of it, have been 'new man' altruism, 'long term the pill can't be that good for you,
love', 'let me take the burden of contraception' etc. etc. but it was actually selfishness. I have
three lovely children, I love them dearly - but three is enough, I've done my bit and it's time to
let somebody else fight the good fight. And if I hadn't taken the decision to have a vasectomy
there would still be that possibility...
