This cat knows, for sure, I will be having a good Christmas.
Master and Mistress are, as usual, on the ball with pressies bought and wrapped and the food shopping, save for the last minute rush to get fresh bread and milk, all completed.
The reason I know I have treats in store is however well they wrap presents, us felines have a terrific sense of smell and I know by the smell, there are bags of Dreamies under the tree.
I am also partial to the odd slice of turkey although, having experience of what this sage and onion stuffing has on the Master, I will be giving that a miss!
So, my Christmas looks like being one of great feasting with little in the way of mouse chasing.
And, I won’t be the only one to be having a wonderful Christmas time.
Various council offices will be shut from Christmas Eve until January 2.
The bin lads (and lasses) will be about and there is always the main libraries open through the holidays apart from December 25, 26 and January 1, and there will be emergency cover where it is needed, but, like the building trades and schools, many apparently essential services will be either offering a reduced service or none at all.
And this leads me to a dilemma one of my friends is facing: She found a stray dog.
While you could try the RSPCA, although I am told coverage across the west and north of the county is not good, the legal responsibility for stray dogs rests with your local council.
Now, if you live in the old Copeland area you can, through the Cumberland Council website, navigate through until you see a phone number for the kennels.
If you live in the old Carlisle area, the website takes you to a page where you can report dog fouling but nothing about reporting a stray dog.
Finally, in the old Allerdale area, you end up at a page where you have to log in to the Cumberland Council website in order to report an incident.
If you don’t have an account, you can create one.
Now, tell me, with so much dross already hitting the average email inbox, who wants to give Cumberland Council their email address? Imagine getting an email every time they issue a press release or post something on Instagram?
Fortunately, things are somewhat better in the Westmorland and Furness Council area where the trail through the website for stray dogs does provide much useful information – well done them.
Of course, the Cumberland examples are because of the legacy issues of combining three areas into one on April Fools’ Day 2023.
And I can’t blame them not wanting to change anything as it seems likely that in a couple of years time, we will be back with a single Cumbria unitary authority and a Cumbria mayor running the whole shooting match with all the associated costs of unpicking what has changed in the last couple of years.
But, hey, it is Christmas and I have turkey and Dreamies to look forward to (the absence of the smell of a catnip toy is disappointing, though), and even to those who work tirelessly for all our benefits at Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness councils, and, of course, to the tireless reporters and editor of Cumbria Crack, (“Don’t forget to mention the editor”. “Why? What will you be doing over the festive period apart from stuffing your face and polishing off the understairs wine cupboard”. “If you don’t, you’ll spend a night on the cold, frosty tile……”. “Okay then!”)
I wish you all a very furry Christmas and a joyous, cattastic 2025.
I hope to see you all, on the page of course, on the other side. Purr Purr Purr.
About Cumbria Cat
Born in Cumberland and back living in Cumberland, having spent most of the past 50 years in some place called Cumbria, this cat has used up all nine lives as well as a few others.
Always happy to curl up on a friendly lap, the preference is for a local lap and not a lap that wants to descend on the county to change it into something it isn’t. After all, you might think Cumbria/Cumberland/Westmorland is a land forged by nature – the glaciers, the rivers, breaking down the volcanic rocks or the sedimentary layers – but, in reality, the Cumbria we know today was forged by generations of local people, farmers, miners, quarriers, and foresters.
This cat is a local moggy, not a Burmese, Ocicat or Persian, and although I have been around the block a few times, whenever I jump, I end up on my feet back in my home county. I am passionate about the area, its people, past, present and future, and those who come to admire what we hold dear, be it lakes and mountains, wild sea shores, vibrant communities or the history as rich and diverse as anywhere in the world.
