the apartment, the terrorits, and the non-sex life of a cat

Thank you everyone for your concern and kind comments. I don’t know why that helps, but it does. Q has had good news and not so good news, but not bad news. After another frustrating day on the telephone from here to NYC trying to get in touch with anyone who might, if not know the whereabouts of the landlady, at least be able to certify her validity as a ne’r do well and not a con artist, as oddly comforting as that would be. Some other matters transpired in this in-between stage but as she was not overjoyed at my “sharing” yesterday, I think it best I not go into detail lest I languish alone and unloved in my declining years, long may they be in coming.. At day’s end she had been able to discover the apartment, lease, and arrival in September are all valid and safe; however the landlady has apparently taken off for the Caribbean with the KEYS. But, good to have a ‘but’ there may be a key with the building superintendent, and if so they can show the apartment. This part of the tale lingers on, but the essentials, a place to live, are assured. Whew. I have been forbidden to speak of further details (sigh). You know… when I began this blog she said she wasn’t going to read it. Um hummmm.

I am very distressed to read of the further attacks on Britain. The car bomb in Glasgow Airport is not a good sign, to state the obvious... I cannot imagine the authorities will be able to get any information from those arrested, so I can only hope they do not let their attention wane. They seem from what I can read here on top of the situations, as much as one can be – after all the point of a terrorist attack is to strike where unexpected in order to cause the greatest fear. Please let me state the obvious from my geographic location that while all radical Islamic terrorists are Muslims, not all Muslims are terrorists. It is a fact easily lost in the face of fear. Which is one of my greatest objections to the declaration of a “war on terror”, it paints such a broad picture that the individuals, their specific organizations are lost in the generalization and it sounds to the Muslim nations as if they are all being targeted. While offensive to them it is also ineffective in catching the culprits and stopping the attacks. This perception is not helped by acts like the U.S. hanging Hussein during the Muslim holy days.

Britain’s problem at the moment would appear to be “home grown terrorists”, those radicals from inside the country itself. Whether individuals from the outside are further stoking those radicals, supplied by them (albeit it is much easier to obtain weapons in the West or Russia), and or directed by them is something for MI6.

There has always been an element of terrorism in the world; it is easier now to transport terror and to report its effects. We still need to know the why and we cannot allow it to stop us from living our lives, and we cannot allow those who would spread terror the opportunity to do so. The difficulty here is not to spread such a wide net that we catch up the innocent as well as the guilty, assuring another generation of terror.


This is not a “war” you can win. There have always been terrorists. If the west continues to target “all terrorists” we will lose more lives and influence. The organization committing the specific act needs to be identified and dealt with. All right I ‘m done now.

Here is the latest chapter on E. (our proper British girl) and Rashid (nice Moroccan boy) and the “cat” that would be neutered. E., Q’s friend a fellow Fulbright Scholar has a Moroccan boyfriend and a cat; she is taking the cat back to America.

Rashid has reconciled himself to the fact E. is having the cat, Maximus, neutered before returning to the States. His outrage at the poor feline never having a sex life has been inconsolable. He thought he had found a solution when he returned home with a female (prostitute) cat from the streets for Maximus to have his one shot at sex.

Every feminist bone in E’s Princeton educated body bristled as she asks, “And what will happen after they have sex?”

“I will put her back on the street,” he replied smugly as a man who had thought this out – not.

“And if she gets pregnant? Who will care for her and the kittens?”

“Um well I guess I hadn’t thought of that, but..”

Turns out the nice young American chap who lives upstairs agreed to keep the prostitute cat until Monday when they could find someone to take her. Over the weekend the young man feel quite in love with her, named her Misha Misha, and took her home with him to America. Happy ending for her. Maximus remains virgin. Rashid remains distraught. E. remains determined.