Gallus* cat

This is a quick one, but I simply had to tell you that I have achieved what might be a 20-year-old ambition today: I've bought myself a Wemyss cat.




Wemyss (pronounced 'Weems') is a village in Fife that was famous for its pottery, known as 'Wemyss Ware'. The original pieces now sell at Christies for tens of thousands. Some of this is on show in the museum in Kirkcaldy (which I may go to tomorrow), but a little place in Fife, the Griselda Hill Pottery in a village called Ceres, carries on the tradition quite near Wemyss Ware's birthplace and now makes many of them for much more affordable prices.



They are odd things. Normal pots, jars, bowls, jugs, etc, with nice floral and nature designs on them but the things I like are the animals. I really can't explain why, because if you tell someone you want a cat with flowers painted on it, it just sounds mad.

Anyway, today I went to the pottery and got the cat I've coveted for ages. They don't make the red cat any more, but they do make a yellow one, which is nearly as good.


Here is Harry from the shop, with whom I had a very nice chat, with five cats, helping me choose. I left the two in pairs, which were good matches for one another, and took the one on the furthest right. He had a winsome and quizzical expression, which are two of my favourite words, and I was also pleased with the saturation of his yellow.

And just so Harry isn't worried - I did find somewhere to camp. That place at Craigtoun was only for static caravans and didn't take dogs, so I looked in the Caravan Club book and found a small site at Upper Largo. I have been watching the sunset over the Firth of Forth and thinking smugly of my cat, all cosy in its polystyrene chip-filled box. I can't wait to see him on the mantelpiece. Thank you so much for the care and time you took, which only adds to the pleasure of owning him. Much better than ordering from the internet!

*Gallus: A Scottish word, meaning confident, cheeky. It's a pun, though: the Wemyss design I have got is called 'Galle' (with an acute 'e'), which is named after its 19th century designer, Emile Galle.