Wednesday 5 May 2010

Bob


Last weekend, Derek and I took ourselves and our dogs down to Kent, Canterbury to be precise, to visit a friend of his, now mine too I hope, who owns a hotel.

The Thanington Hotel is a real gem. It's on Wincheap, now a busy main road but historically one of the main routes in and out of Canterbury. It's a Georgian double-fronted imposing building, with a pale faschia offset by cowls and wrought iron balconies, finished off by flags set into the walls. Inside it's full of character: the Georgian style is maintained in the form of rich wallpaper separated by moulded wooden friezes, chandeliers, and walls studded with prints. And there's a delightful courtyard garden.

But to me the real star of the place was Bob, who presides regally over proceedings and trains Jenny and Ian in the niceties of service; he has them twisted round his last digit so they spoil not only him, but the guests as well. Nothing is too much trouble.

What's this got to do with dogs and cats? Well, everything, actually. Because Bob is a cat. A devinely elegant, long haired ginger, green-eyed cat.

What's remarkable is that Jenny and Ian (his humans) still manage, with this gloriously spoilt creature, to create a remarkably dog-friendly atmosphere. The bedrooms in the main part of the hotel are off limits, but there is an annex (linked by a conservatory) where dogs are allowed. And they can, once you ask permission of the owners, bring your dogs into the bar, or the courtyard garden.

Poor Bob, who had a bad experience of dogs when young, does not like them, and I am ashamed to say that on jumping out of the car in the car park, our two hounds glimpsed him and were off. Fortunately Bob jumped up on the wall quickly enough before he could come to any harm.

But what I thought was really nice was to find a dog-friendly place where there was a resident cat. Some might say, how unfortunate for the poor cat to have these canine interruptions to his peace. But, dogs are NOT the worst enemy of cats: lots of other things are, such as lack of food, warmth and affection. And Bob has these in abundance.

It all comes down to good management: the owner kindly retrieved Bob from the garden, so that we could enjoy it with our dogs. Bob meanwhile sat in great comfort in his owners' flat. And I'm sure that the upside of sharing his home with so many people was that he got lots more petting. As to the occasional chase by a dog, or stealing of his food, well, into every life a little rain must fall. At least we didn't bring another cat.