On my way to St Ives...

I've always loved the rhyme...

On my way to St Ives,
I met a man with seven wives.
Every wife had seven sacks,
Every sack had seven cats,
Every cat had seven kittens,
Kitten, cats, sacks and wives
How many going to St Ives?

Just me.

I'm housesitting for my uncle in St Ives while he and his family go to the snow for a week. I can now say the above rhyme without feeling like a tool (or at the very least, I can say it and mean it).

Resident in the house is Zorro, the Shyest Cat I've Ever Known. Also, luckilly for him, the cutest. But then he hasn't woken me up at 5am because he's hungry yet, so the cuteness may wear off tomorrow morning. So far he hasn't spoken to me, and he only came close to me when I lay a trail of kibble down the steps to the kitchen. After scoffing it all away, he promptly returned to my uncle's bed - his latest favourite spot for a midday nap.

I always find it interesting seeing how different families opperate. When you're little you assume that everyone is just like you (why wouldn't they be!!??) But as you grow older you discover that other families don't opperate like yours. Sometimes they do things better, but generally that young narcisim stays with you and you find yourself critiquing how other families and how they run their household. I've only spent the night here with my uncle's family twice and I gotta say the way I feel about this household's running falls squarely in the second category. Not in a bad way. Just in an "I wouldn't do things this way if this way my house" kind of way. To be honest I can't even put my finger on it enough to even provide concrete examples beyond the fact that everyone seems to stay in their rooms all night and never actually talk to one another.

But this morning 5 adults, a toddler, 6 bags of clothes and personal items and 8 green bags of groceries piled into their rented tarago van. It reminded me of the sketch with the clowns and the V-dub. And sardines. I had visions of them arriving at their destination, opening the doors and the entire contents of the car emptying itself on the driveway in an avelanche of green grocery bags.

For the next 6 days the house is mine and will be run the way I see fit (read: it will be run the right way.

As an aside, last night I was told, much to my joy, that they have Smallville on DVD if I'd like to watch it. Would I ever! I'm in love with Tom Welling. I live in hope that one day he's going to realise that I'm meant for him and that we're going to move to Spain or Canada and get married. Well, a boy can dream can't he?