Photo of a young ginger and white cat crouching on top of a fridge (with postcards stuck to it with magnets).
February 2017: as a kitten, Parkin loved getting as high up as he could. I never witnessed these climbs - I'd just come in and he'd be on top of the tallest bookshelf, or on the fridge. Evidence - fallen books, dislodged fridge magnets - was everywhere, though.
Joiner bloke fished the floorboard out later and screwed it into place. Took me hours to calm down. He was merely peeved his adventure was over.
If I wedged my arm right up to the shoulder into the hole, I couldn't see but I could feel him on the pipe, and could reach just far enough to grab him under his front legs and haul him out.
The thanks I got was he bit me when I tried to clean him up.
I got hold of someone who could come over in a couple of hours but that didn't solve the problem of the wandering kitten. Luckily there was a pipe about halfway between the hall floor and the foundation ground, which he kept standing on and reaching up with his front paws.
Meanwhile, Parkin is off exploring (which, also, my flat was the middle of an Edwardian terrace with about 10 houses either side, I had no idea if there were walls stopping him going all the way through). He kept popping back, increasingly filthy and covered in spider webs. I'm just freaking out.
I think he'd stepped on one end, it had flipped, somehow, underneath him and both him and it ended up in the foundations? And what do you do in this situation? If you have a leak you call a plumber, who do you call to rip up your floor?
Photo in two halves top half is a ginger and white kitten lying on an orange throw and biting a human hand, bottom half is a hole in some wooden floorboards with a joist in the middle.
February 2017: Parkin fell through the floorboards and into the foundations of my flat. There had been a loose plank for years, it was under a doormat and I never thought anything of it. One morning I heard a clatter and a yowl, went into the hallway and OH MY GOD PARKIN WHAT HAVE YOU DONE
August 2017: Parkin always loved the laser pointer. He developed a routine that, last thing at night, he would sit in front of the sofa until I pointed the red dot at the sofa back cushions and he'd race up, across and over. And repeat until tired.
A young ginger and white cat curled up and conked out asleep on a human lap.
April 2017: I have to tell you about Parkin sleeping. Like everything else in his life, he committed to it hard. He seemed to have such vivid dreams - often twitching paws or his mouth. Sometimes he growled in his sleep. And often snored so loud I could hear him across the room.
Photo of a young ginger and white cat lying on a chair covered in an orange throw. The lies twisted on its back and side, front paws above his head as if cheering, but asleep and horizontal.
Febr 2017: 5 months old and developing a deep love of being comfys.
[Description: a young ginger and white cat plays with an emery board, flipping it up with his paws and catching it in his mouth, on a doormat next to a white uPVC door.]
January 2017: 4 months old and the start of an obsession with emery boards that lasted his whole life. If I was using one, he'd come and steal it right out of my hand.
Dec 2016: I hadn't planned on getting a kitten that November and already had flights away for Christmas. Parkin was too little to go into a cattery and clearly couldn't be left to a catsitter, so Bill took care of him over yuletide.
Photo of a ginger and white kitten sitting in a human lap (well, a human crotch), keeled forward with his back legs splayed and head resting on the human's jeans. Spark out asleep.
December 2016: 3 months old. He genuinely fell asleep like this.
Photo of a ginger and white kitten, still with kitten fluffy fur, sitting on a chair covered with an orange throw. The kitten looks a bit concerned.
Nov 2016: 9 weeks old and in his first few days at my house. A rare moment of calm. And so, so cute.
Blurry photo of a ginger and white young cat attacking a balled up pair of socks. His ears are aeroplaning, his front paws are clutching the socks and his back paws are raking the socks. The cat is lying on a navy and white blanket.
February 2017: 5 months old and viciously attacking a pair of my socks. Such a mitey hunter.
Photo of a fluffy ginger and white kitten crouching and definitely not peeing on logs and pine cones in a decorative brick fireplace.
October 2016: Parkin's mum's owner caught him peeing in the fireplace.
April 2017: about 7 months old here and with springs in his legs. That quick lick of the fur at the start is something he still did during zoomies play. How dare anything touch him! Must stop to get clean!
Photo of two kittens ka couple of weeks old?) asleep lying next to each other. Parkin, a ginger and white kitten, is being spooned by a grey, ginger and white tabby kitten.
September 2016: teeny baby Parkin getting a hug from one of his sisters.
Thank you so much for all the kind words about Parkin. It's genuinely helped to see how many people loved my little doofus.
I've been going through old photos and videos of him and I think I'll post some here over time. They've made me laugh, you'll probably like them too.
Please remember him like the latest photo on this account: desperately trying to nose his way into somewhere he didn't belong.
If you ever wondered why he wrote in capitals here, it's because he only had two modes: 'asleep' and 'full on'. It's entirely in character that he burned out rather than faded away.
Parkin's hooman here. I'm sorry to say that Parkin died yesterday evening. After being off his food for a few days I took him to the vet, where a barrage of tests revealed he had advanced cancer. The kindest thing to do was let him go.
😹😹😹😹
BUT ABANDON
😹😹😹😹
😸😸😸😸
😹😹😹😹
TROO
😿😿😿😿
