She arrived during the night, mewing plaintively.

We ignored her. But, she came back the following day. As I was preparing to shoo her out of the boat Noel went up to her and said, ‘she’s a funny little thing.’

Noel stroked the purring bundle of prettiness and grinned, ‘she’s quite nice.’

I couldn’t believe it – Noel does not like cats. He never has.

“Don’t feed her, she’ll never leave!” Too late, Noel had opened a tin of our finest tuna and the cat dove in.

Don’t get me wrong – I am an animal lover. But I was not ready for the responsibility of a cat, especially with our travelling lives. Noel saw it differently, ‘it’s quite nice having her on board,’ he said!

We named her Yorca as we kept saying, “Your cat needs feeding.”  Yorca stands for Your Cat – her temporary name.

Soon, she and I became great pals. She was very chatty and just loved attention. The first night she bought us a mouse, which she promptly lost, but found it again at 3 am. The crunching noises, as she ate it (every part), next to our bed, were not that pleasant!

“She’s too well cared for,” I said, while she sat on my lap leaving more white hairs, “I bet someone’s looking for her.” The next day I planned a trip to the vet.

More soon….. click ‘follow’ to receive the next instalment of ‘adopted by a cat!”