I fucking hate cats, usually. Like men, they're either ugly, good-looking but dumb to the point of irrelevance, or else transparently cunning. And, also like men, they do that thing where they treat you with indifference, until you withdraw your affections, and then they're all over you like salt on chips. Aloof, mewing fleabags that jump out from nowhere, hissing, with arched backs and spite-contorted faces, or else cross your path on Friday the thirteenth and curse you with bad luck forevermore. And they make me sneeze. I was a big fan of that woman who, a few years back, was caught on CCTV, as she chucked a cat into a wheelie bin, when she happened upon it, during her daily stroll.
'Drown the lot of 'em', I used to think, secretly - because saying stuff like that out loud is more likely to get you ostracised from polite British society than just about anything else, including - it would seem, from the many blind eyes turned to geriatric celebrity sleazery - child abuse.
But then, about six weeks ago, a tabby appeared in my back garden, eyeing me with a delicious malevolence; her yellow-green eyes flashing as she peered out from behind the bushes. You could tell, by how her languid movements suddenly turned razor-sharp, and from the way she turned her nose up at the double-cream I offered, that this was a kitty of above average intelligence, charisma and ability. I wanted her. I wanted her in that immediate, essential way you sometimes want a strong-backed stranger, except without the sexual overtones. I wanted her to want me; I wanted her to rub her kitten fur against my legs, to jump into my lap and fall asleep, purring as I fondled her velvet ears.
Don't misunderstand me. I do not wish to steal the cat from my neighbours. I know she isn't mine; she's made it perfectly clear that she has a loving owner who feeds her and provides her with stability and comfort in a manner I am not capable of at this time. I'm not asking much. I only want her to love me on the side; to visit me a couple of times a week for cuddles, chicken bits and a saucer of cream and return to her family afterwards.
But she's not feeling my moves, and I don't know what to do next.
It's very hard with cats, because when they ignore you there are no obvious means of covertly attracting their attention - by which I mean you can't 'accidently' send them a text message written for someone else, or find out where they'll be on Saturday night, using your advanced social media surveillance skills, and turn up wearing a skin-tight mini-dress and red lipstick.
This is new territory.
I know where I am when men don't want me. I can play maudlin pop music, down a few bottles of Prosecco and recall incidents from the past where he demonstrated that he was a total scumbag who didn't deserve my love in the first place (there are always plenty of those) - and before I know it, I'm over the worst of the heartache and fantasising about someone new.
But that method has proved ineffective with cats. I can't find a single decent love song about kittens, the Prosecco just makes me cry and even her most terrible behaviour endears her to me all the more. Such as her predilection for hunting small creatures and toying with their corpses.
There she sits, in my garden, crouched low, scrutinising a tormented mouse as it jumps hither and thither and cowers in the grasses. When I walk over to investigate, she mews with disapproval, snatches the mouse in her little cat mouth, flashes me a cruel glance and pads off to set the mouse down further up the garden, where she can prod and tease it unwatched, before, no doubt, tearing it apart in a demented frenzy and delivering its eviscerated carcass to her owners as a sadistic thank-you for their ongoing provision of food and shelter.
It doesn't matter how much I try, it's clear, from the way she's consistently rebuffed my advances, that next door's cat won't be gifting the dead mouse to me. Which means I've failed at the crazy cat-lady hurdle of long term-singledom - which, I suppose, I can choose to see as a silver-lining in the dark cloud of rejection. That's the thing with unrequited love - there's always a silver-lining.
This post is one of 130 meditations on my single life, posted on my award winning blog 'Reasons to be Single'. You can read more posts by clicking here.
*Image is "Cat Trying To Catch Love Heart" by mack2happy at freedigitalphotos.net. I'd like to point out that the cat who's won my affections is considerably better looking than the cat in this photo.