You Can Take the Cat Out of Slough

You can take a cat to water but you can't make it think.

Last summer, Chris Pascoe decided to do something monumentally stupid.He decided to stay at home withhis two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Maya and disaster-prone tabby Birmingham, Brum for short. And also with Brum's rather vicious live-in-partner-girl-cat Sammy, whohe intended mainly not to wake. Let biting cats lie. Whyhe believed time with Brum would, with all the years of contrary evidence, be qualityhe's not at all sure . . .

The result is a series of tales of death-defying feats.Paddling pools, gazebos, small birds and kitchens - all aspects of normal life can take a dangerous turn with the presence of Brum. Pascoe tries to train the tabby, restrainthe tabbyand even researches the stories of other danger cats in a bid to keep Brum alive a bit longer. And amazingly, despite the efforts of his exuberant two-year-old with a plastic mallet, he still is."