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‘I know. When you left and moved away I thought I’d never see you again. And yet, here you are and I see you every day.’

‘Exactly. And although I will always miss my family a bit, I have grown very fond of Harold – even his snoring doesn’t bother me anymore – and I adore George. It’s also nice to be back with my other cat friends.’

‘It is. We never stop missing those we love,’ I added. I was speaking from experience here.

‘I know.’ We were both silent. ‘Hey, let’s be more cheerful. Race you to the rec ground,’ she shouted as she bounded off.

I chased after her, and was pleased to see our other friends there as we approached, slightly out of breath from our run. Nellie was playing in a bush, Elvis was licking his paws and Rocky was lying in a very rare sunny spot. We cats of Edgar Road tried to catch up regularly but with winter and the frequent rain, we didn’t always see each other as much as we’d have liked. No one liked having damp fur.

‘Snowball, Alfie,’ they greeted us.

‘What’s going on?’ I asked as I caught my breath.

‘Nothing much, it’s been so cold lately I feel that I’ve barely been out,’ Rocky said.

‘But, I have news. There’s a new woman moved in to one of the flats at the end of the road. I think where your families used to live,’ Elvis said, stretching his legs out.

When I first moved to Edgar Road, Tomasz and Franceska lived in the upstairs flat of one of the houses and Polly and Matt lived in the downstairs. They had separate front doors but it was a house split in two.

‘Does she have a cat?’ Always my first question.

‘No, it’s just her on her own. I thought I might take an interest as she would possibly be a candidate for your lonely club,’ Elvis explained.

‘It’s the Sunday Lunch Club,’ Snowball corrected.

‘Well, anyway, she looks about the right age, although maybe a bit younger than your Harold, I would guess, and she’s definitely on her own.’ Goodness, Elvis had done his homework.

‘Has Salmon’s family met her yet?’ I asked. Salmon was the neighbourhood watch cat, he knew everything that was going on. As did his family. Heather and Vic Goodwin ruled Edgar Road in many ways. They wore matching jumpers and were the busybodies (Jonathan’s word) of the street. Salmon usedto be our nemesis but we had all softened towards each other and found a way to be cordial nowadays.

‘Probably,’ Nellie said. ‘But I haven’t seen Salmon for a few days. If I do, I’ll see what I can find out, and you do the same,’ she suggested.

Salmon was useful for knowing all the comings and goings of Edgar Road– nothing seemed to escape his notice. We sometimes had to butter him up a bit to get the real gossip but I wasn’t averse to that.

We all spent some companionable time together, watching the world of Edgar Road go by. Snowball climbed a tree, Nellie chatting to her from the safety of the ground as she did so. Rocky closed his eyes and Elvis and I watched people go about their business. It was a pleasant time, but of course, it was soon time to leave. We had to before our fur froze. We spotted Sylvie pushing Theo in his pram up the road towards her house and I knew that was probably a sign that the humans would be returning from school, or work, or their chores, soon. Snowball and I took some privacy to say goodbye, because she wanted to make sure she was home to greet Harold when he got back, and then we took our leave.

When I first met Snowball I used to hate it when I wasn’t with her but then I was a very young cat in love. Now I’m grown up. I’ve lived through losing her, becoming a parent, falling for Tiger, losing Tiger, finding Snowball again … I’m far more realistic these days, steady and sensible in our relationship, because when I first met her it was all about the two of us – and the humans, of course – but now it’s about so many more people and cats, and we know that is part of our relationship. It’s funny how you change and evolve as you grow up.

I headed home and arrived to see George at the front door. He was waiting for the children to come home from school. They loved it when we greeted them on the doorstep for some reason. Today, Claire arrived with Pickles– Toby holding his lead, and Martha, Henry and Summer trailing him. It was one of Polly’s busy work days and Claire often picked the children up from school. She also dog sat Pickles a lot. In fairness, I had to dog sit quite a lot too. Dogs aren’t like cats; they hate to be on their own, andif left alone for too long Pickles managed to get up to all sorts. Only the other day Claire had to leave him here when she went to the supermarket and because George and I were out, he managed to chew one of Jonathan’s favourite loafers. Claire hid it at the back of the wardrobe, so I’m not sure Jonathan has noticed yet, but the rule now was that either a responsible adult or a responsible cat has to be with Pickles at all times.