Or so I thought.....

There is nothing nicer than climbing into bed at the end of a day. In fact to get into bed and find there is not a cat in sight is somewhat of a miracle. Usually I am greeted by an assortment of furry bundles dotted up and down the bed and have to spend the first ten minutes working out which position I can adopt to be able to stand any chance of a horizontal night in my own bed. I usually employ subterfuge by filling the biscuit bowl with fresh biscuits which proves irresistible to a few. The others press their eyes tightly shut and sink claws into the bedding as anchors. I find a vacant corner and lay claim to it. From there I have to wriggle and shove whilst apologising profusely and pleading for every square inch. 
Tonight, after one of the hottest days of the year so far, there are no cats in sight. The bed is mine and it’s all quiet on the western front. I climb in and wriggle into every corner, just because I can. I turn off the lights before I am discovered. 

I have built my bed four feet off the ground with storage underneath and steps up to it. This means I am four feet from the ceiling and the tops of the wardrobes are within reach as I lay in bed. On top of the wardrobes are large cardboard boxes containing many things. Amongst them is one for medical supplies and another for tablets of every description. We could withstand an attack of mosquitoes ( and frequently do ) and most unlikely medical conditions known only to Wikipedia. ( I’m a just in case sort of a person.) A cut finger...... I have an assortment of plasters, bandages, antiseptic creams and thanks to Red Cross parcels from friends, sutures. I have tablets for every occasion from cough sweets to hay fever tablets. All in the boxes on the wardrobe........

It’s not that I am a hypochondriac, far from it. It comes from my youth and visits to my Nan’s house. She had cupboards stocked with all sorts of supplies. Big jars full of coloured bars of soap spring to mind and many tins of food such as sliced peaches and meats. At the time it was not long after the end of the war and rationing was fresh in everyone’s mind. I was only small then but the idea of being prepared for every eventuality stuck with me. Now living in Spain, up a mountain, being prepared is important as although we are only 10 minutes from shops and civilisation, the road is mountainous and on occasions washed away so we are stuck here till help arrives.

At the far end of my bed I have built shelves and a walkway over to the bookcase thus preventing me being used as a springboard across the doorway. Cats rule here, I try to live amongst them.
I listen to the clock ticking and hear the cat flap in the kitchen rattle a few times. It goes quiet for a couple of minutes. I relax....... suddenly the cat flap through the bedroom door rattles and in a split second there are many paws thundering up the steps, it’s sounds like a herd of wildebeest approaching. Paws ricochet off my tummy and a cat sprints upward onto the top of the boxes on the wardrobe closely followed by a second cat. There is only room for one cat on top of the boxes but now there are two. 

I am aware of scrabbling and in a split second a tsunami of boxes is descending towards me.
Plasters, bandages, creams and potions rain down followed by the now almost empty boxes, their lids and two cats. It all happens so fast. The cats bounce off me and the bed and vanish across to the bookshelf. Many things are still falling onto me and many more continuing towards the floor bouncing off the steps as they go. I am at the bottom of a pile of stuff...... For a split second I don’t move, when I do more things fall. I reach out my arm and switch on the light and peer out from under a box lid. Two cats sit unconcerned on the top of the bookshelf washing themselves and looking innocent. Guiness and Rosie !!

I glare in their direction and mutter. Two cats scuttle out of sight. I mutter some more and climb out from under the boxes. It takes me half an hour to pick up and sort everything and put it back, unsurprising not everything fits, how does that happen? Tomorrow I will build a safety rail around the boxes. I return the boxes to the top of the wardrobe and turn around to find Felix has beaten me to a spot in the middle of the bed. I climb in as best I can. Life goes back to normal......