Purr Inside Of Me

At the end of January, we had to go to London again. It was an unexpected business trip, but we also had a lot of time for sightseeing and chilling in the city.

This time we were able to stay in the city center (to be more specific in Soho district). I really like this part of the town, it’s full of interesting restaurants and coffee shops, close to the underground and to the rest of nice touristic points.
Although we didn’t rent a luxury apartment (medium standard and rough and filthy street), but location compensated for all other inconveniences.

London is one of these cities, which you’re getting know every time when you’re staying there. And every time it’ll surprise you in a different way! I have a feeling, that it’s changing a little bit every single day.
It was my 3rd time there and I’m sure I’ll return in the nearest future. Actually, I would love to spend 1 day in London during our June trip to Scotland.

Last time we came to London I wasn’t as amazed as this time. We met a lot of Poles, who were incredibly rude and silly. We also met a lot of Muslims (around 2 times more than other cultures). This time something changed. I met Poles too, but they were kind and sometimes even helpful, also the proportion of cultures has changed; I saw more Asians and Mediterranean people.

Well, one thing which definitely has changed is congestion, which is associated with enormous lines in restaurants.
If you want to eat something good in London (I mean in high rated restaurants) you’ll have to wait around 30 min to be seated (and in lunchtime even longer, around 1 hour).
And it’s the same in coffee shops and breakfast restaurants in the morning. It was impossible to sit and eat, we usually ate breakfast later or we took it to go.
It would be great if there would be an option to book a table… but it’s not very popular in London I think, none of the restaurants we found offered bookings.
If you assume, that dinner will take you around 2 hours, it’s acceptable. But it’s worse if you have to for example get to the airport for some hour and you don’t have time for waiting. Anyway, food in these crowded restaurants is usually really delicious and worth to wait.
I can recommend the Dishroom (Indian cuisine) and Burger & Lobster (where I tried lobster for the first time).

Also, coffee shops surprised me pleasantly; I’ve tried the best coffee in Black Sheep Coffee. Hah, what’s the most interesting - all the restaurants and coffee shops I mentioned about in this note are chain stores! Of course, I can’t compare it with McDonald or Starbucks, but they have few points in London.
In Poland when you have some chain restaurant it usually means that the quality of meals will decrease with every new opened local (for example it’s Bobby Burger case). But in London it’s different! Company development and opening new points aren’t associated with reducing quality.


January in London is not as cold and Windy as in Warsaw. During our whole trip, we had a temperature around 10-14 Celsius degrees. We had rainy days; once we even had a flood in the shoes and we had to buy new trousers because ours were drying for next 12 hours! But we really enjoyed spending time in green parks and districts.

As you probably anticipated, I had to visit cat cafe again!

Since the last time I’ve been there some new cats got accommodation. Luckily we came earlier than we booked a table, so there weren’t a lot of people. Cats were inquisitive, eager for petting and hugging. They were just coming to us and ask for attention! One of them accompanied us while we were enjoying our tea.

But later, when people started arriving everything has changed. Cats were moving higher and deeper into their own space. After 1,5 hour there were no cats in sight! Well, I have contradictory feelings about cat cafes. I know that a lot of cats in places like this are rescued, taken from the shelters and sanctuaries; people working there are kind and love them. But on the other hand, I feel that there are too many people coming at the same time. Cats are tired of it. I think they should remove some of the tables and take a half as much of people at the same time. I think cats would be able to feel more comfortable then.

I can’t get used to left-hand traffic in the UK. Every time I was crossing the street I was looking left first. I’m curious how many mistakes I’ll make during our June trip because we’re going to Scotland with a car...

Despite some disadvantages, London is charming in some way. Every time I’m spending spare time there I feel, that I could stay there forever; that this is my place on the Earth.
Of course, when I’m in Warsaw again I always say, that it was crazy and stupid thinking. And it was the same this time, I have no idea what I should think about it.
Maybe London is my place on the Earth but not now, maybe one day...

Let’s change the subject - my volunteering adventure has been going on 3 months. I feel better with myself because of it, I have a feeling that I’m important and truly accepted.

Cats are charming and grateful for every minute I’m spending with them. I’m glad, that I can be part of such wonderful and important thing!

Not a lot of changes here. We’re still struggling with struvites, cats are taking another one paste, which will probably help somehow. I’m also adding more water to their food because they have more diluted urine, which prevents clogging urethra.

Misio was getting steroid so far but wasn’t working as good as before. We also couldn’t reduce the frequency of injections. We’ve stuck in 8-day break and we couldn’t change it to even 9 days.
I’m really afraid of this medicine because it can cause diabetes in the future. He has a lot of illnesses, I don’t want to make him worse…
Yesterday our vet visited us, she changed Misio’s treatment. I hope it’ll be better now. Tomorrow he’s going to have small surgery, we have to remove another 2 teeth. I’m worried about him because he’s 15 years old, but I trust my vet. I know that she’ll resign from the operation if the blood tests are bad.

Maja and cats have better and better contact. She loves to pet and hug them. Misio is the only one who lets her do it. Purka and Amaya are still afraid a little bit, but they’re also coming to get some hugs increasingly.

I’m really glad, that they’re an important part of her life. I think that home without any animals is just an empty place to spend nights. They bring so much joy and love, that I cannot even imagine how people can stand without at least tiny rat, hamster or ferret.

My cyborg life is still processing! At the beginning of January, I finally decided to make a tooth implant. I gained huge screw and for now, everything is healing well inside.
We’re planning next part - nut, mold and a crown - for the middle of April.
And actually - making implant wasn’t very scary and painful so far. To be honest, it’s more comfortable than conservative and of course root canal treatment.
I only felt cut gum, which healed after 2-3 days. My stitches started to come out and after 4 days, so I just removed it on my own, because it bothered me while dangling all the time.

My fondness for succulents is getting stronger all the time. I have a lot of them, I also bought 2 cactuses. I didn’t like cactuses so far, but now I realized that they’re also beautiful.
Am I getting older? Just a few years ago I didn’t like any flowers. I promised myself, that I won’t have any flowers in my home because I have no time and I even don’t like to take care of them. I liked flowers when they were outside.
After we moved from my mom’s home and started renting a flat we had just one flower (only because Adam wanted it), which actually died after 3 months. Then I totally resigned from any greens at home.
And I have no idea what happened, but now I can’t leave without at least one new succulent from the home improvement store!
I really like them! Adam has made a bookshelf for me because I had not enough space for them. Now they have greater access to the sunlight.
And of course, Purka loves to spend her time on the highest shelf among my succulents!

I’m slowly mentally getting used to our trip to Taipei in March. We still don’t have flight tickets, but this trip is accepted, so it’ll be held in 90%. I was dreaming about visiting Asia for some time, to be honest, I would love to go to Japan, but Taiwan is also splendid and apparently, it is unappreciated. And I’m leaving the idea of Japan for a few years because I would like to go there with Maja. It’s not a fun if she won’t be able to remember it.

Lately, I’m trying to be more brave and confident. I’m planning a lot of things to move on this year. I’m going to cross it like a thunderstorm!
I want to stop to be afraid of everything and be able to believe in my success. I want to find a calling and even myself.
Well, I think I realized that it’s time to take care of myself last year when I decided to join to cat sanctuary; I did it against all unpleasant words I heard! I’m sick of “wise opinions” of people, who want me to live with their pattern.
I want to make huge step, which will be fruitful and let me make my dreams, which can’t afford for at the moment, come true.
I believe, that I’ll slowly open my mind to new opportunities and I’ll start as I should have done a long time ago.