Well, THAT solves the issue of where all the cats have been going to! I’ve had my hands full for the past three days, leading search parties all around the building in search of the disappearing kitties. They’d just keep showing up, without any clue as to where they’d been, which made their owners worried about where they were going.

Finally, we caught Margherita slipping out of a crack in the concrete slabs next to the back door. Turns out there’s an old sewer system running underneath the building, mostly collapsed but good for a few adventures. No wonder the cats love it down there. Now my Wednesday task has gone from filing this massive stack of receipts to finding a plumber who can do the Melbourne sewer repairs. The folks around here don’t seem to mind so much that the cats have a retreat, but they would like it to be cleaned up and fixed down there. I know for a fact that Leroy came back in absolutely filthy, trailing twenty-year-old waste all over the lobby carpet and into his owner’s apartment. No one was really happy about that, especially our floor cleaner.

If it were up to just me, I’d have that place sealed off. We already have plans for a cat-only play area on one of the lower floors. But then there’s Grisella, with her new-age ideas about cats needing to explore the wilderness, and needing to be in community away from prying human ideals…or something. This is the woman who says she can go into a trance and see through the eyes of her cat, who told her (in a dream) that sewer repair was the way to go.

Ugh, whatever…I’d been meaning to call in some Melbourne drain unblocking professionals anyway. The guest washroom on the second floor is making odd noises. Suppose I’ll see if they can take a look at our little sewer retreat while they’re at it.

-Sal