Thursday, 18 September 2025

It’s just not cricket!

 

It’s just not cricket!

Herschel snoozes

Last night, through the heavy blanket of slumber, loud voices encroached. I struggled to understand. Were they outside? Children’s voices in the middle of the night?

But, no! They were downstairs, in my house, uninvited. As my ears adjusted, I recognised they were not children’s voices at all. With slowly dawning realisation, I understood that the voices were emanating from the television in the sitting room.

Periodically, I recognised an advertisement – something to do with insurance, I think. Advertisements are always louder than the programmes they interrupt, or so it seems to me, and so many of them are about insurance.

The voices were just loud enough to impinge, but not clear enough to be understood, a hindrance to all eavesdroppers, not that I was in the mood to snoop. My dilemma was whether or not I should go down and turn off the television. Had I opted to trudge downstairs, I would have been followed by all the animals, who would then be expecting some sort of attention – a trip into the garden, maybe, or a tasty treat. On balance, it was simpler to remain upstairs and that is what I did. I tried to block out the sound and resume my sleep. I dozed.

Sweet dreams. Jellicoe

I don’t know which cat it was, but one of them had turned on the video recorder, in order to watch a cricket match between England and South Africa. Unfortunately, for England, South Africa won.

To cap it all, Jellicoe has just hooked a buttered scone from my plate, which he then dropped, to Gilbert’s delight and satisfaction.

That’s not playing fair! It’s just not cricket!               

49 comments:

  1. They're conspiring against you!

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  2. If you had ears like mine, you wouldn’t have heard. OTOH, if you slept like I do you would have been awake anyway. 😀

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    1. I have the hearing of a bat, but also sleep quite lightly. Last night, it was past 3:00 before I slept.

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  3. I love the photo of cat snout at the top.

    Cats do need supervision!

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  4. We used to have a cat that found out how to turn on the tv for early morning cartoons. She loved them, all the flashing movement, I suppose.

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    1. Some cats love the television, while others are quite indifferent.

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  5. I found out many bloggers feauturing cats in their stories. That is awesome. I love cats by the way.

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    Replies
    1. I like reading about other people's cats and other animals.

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  6. I'm glad my cat has no interest in TV and doesn't go anywhere near it.

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  7. That's not playing fair but it's a lot of fun to watch.

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  8. Why would the tv be on overnight? Even if my beloved human (and not an animal) is watching overnight, he has to wear earphones and has to close the door. Fortunately he goes to before me :)

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    Replies
    1. It was Herschel , we think. He can turn on the television.

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  9. Ohhh I would have had a few chills before I realised what the voices were!!

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    1. It took me a little while, but had it been intruders, the dogs would have barked . . . I hope!

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  10. We can't get to our socket behind the TV to turn it off, so we have a socket controlled by Alexa, so I would have been able to say 'turn TV off' and it would have been sorted without leaving my bed. As for the scone, can't help you, some you win, some you lose.

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    1. I could have tried Alexa - it might have worked. Next time (because there will be a next time.)

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  11. I would have slept through the whole thing as my hearing aids would have been downstairs in my little wooden box of important things on the hall table...

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    1. That's one way to ensure a good night's sleep.

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  12. Gibbs will be jealous that I don't give him access to the video recorder and the tv while I sleep.

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  13. Funny. Hope Jellico or Hershel liked the team that won. And really, it sounds as if Gilbert was the real winner.

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    1. Gilbert does pretty well, all things considered!

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  14. I am relearning about cat behaviour, but the rules have changed. We now must be more caring and forgiving, and twenty years of evolution has seen cats become much more demanding.

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    1. I remember Barry tentatively suggesting that the cats should not be allowed on the work tops. I just laughed.

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  15. Our telly sometimes turns itself back on just after being turned off, fortunately this hasn't happened in the middle of the night.......yet.....
    Alison in Devon x

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    1. It's odd when machines do that. Sometimes the Roomba sets off across the floor . . .

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  16. Perhaps it was not a pet who turned your TV on - but a ghost or even an alien. Be careful when you go downstairs!

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    1. No ghosts in this house - the animals would have told us by now. 👻👻

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  17. Funny...the noise I suppose did not bother Jellico or Hershel. They seemed to be enjoying their game night. lol.

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    1. They got bored and came back upstairs. 😊

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  18. It was a good decision not to go downstairs. Still seems a little spooky to me.

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    Replies
    1. If I lived alone with no animals, I would be spooked!

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  19. The day was a bit of a wash-out, though. 😟

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  20. I'm thinking that Gilbert was the winner here :)

    All the best Jan

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  21. The animals are always getting up to some fun. lol

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  22. Gosh, what a fright you must have got! So glad it wasn't burglars, though.

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    Replies
    1. It was an odd sensation, rather than frightening.

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  23. I once had a cat who became quite intrigued by the answering machine. When someone left a message, the light blinked. The cat became quite good at pushing the button, playing the message which stopped the light from blinking. Unfortunately, it took me some time to realize it.

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  24. How lovely! I hope the cat didn't manage to delete the messages!

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  25. Oh my goodness, that's just hilarious! I won't be sharing this post with Bess, though, or she'll demand watching television in the middle of the night while being served a platter of buttered scones ... xxx

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    Replies
    1. Poor Bess - she doesn't know what she's missing! 🐈🐈

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  26. Thank goodness Mr T never learned that trick (it would have been motor racing if he had any choice in the matter). You did well to ignore it - I stomp downstairs to kill the TV if Mr B falls asleep in front of it. And yes the ads are louder - that how some recording gizmos can filter them out.

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