We also share our house with Betty the dog and Mr Pitt, a black stocky cat who lives upstairs and shouts at me. I don’t know why: he was a rescue kitten, he has been lavished with love, allowed free reign of the house (and bed), but still he marches after me shouting and demanding who-knows-what. I have Simon Tofield to thank for the video you will see, should you wish to click on the link below. He may think he has avoided huge fees by making his cat white – but he and I both know that it could only be Mr Pitt…
Is there more than one Mr Pitt?

Betty
Betty is a little Jack Russell who looks rather more like a Chihuahua. I did see her mother and father – but I think the breeder pulled a fast one on me and hid the real papa in his pocket. Anyway, she is a sweetheart: on the plus side she is brilliant with the boys, has instant recall, sits and lays down on command and fetches like no other dog I’ve seen. Her less than positive traits are that she will bark at the wind rustling through the leaves of a tree 5 miles away, hates any postman with a vengeance, will NOT come for a walk if she thinks it will involve going through Melrose, and pulls on the lead terribly. But for a dog that gives way to the cat, allows him to groom her head then bite her ears, and has never snarled at the boys, she’ll do for me.