The monthly coffee morning at our little local library is different each time. We never know who might turn up, how many or what we might be doing. Could be a talk, a quiz, scrabble on the table…. This morning there were some new faces including a small, lively elderly lady with a large son. She told us he was an autistic savant and asked which of us knew the day of the week we were born, but don’t say it out loud. Then we each told him our date of birth and he got the day right every time.
How? Was it memory or a mathematical formula. With 52 weeks in a year plus one day, we know our days move by one each year, except for leap years… It only took him a few moments to come up with his answers. I have to admit that one lady gave her daughter’s birth date and he said Tuesday, she said it wasn’t. Asked again he said Tuesday. I asked her what time of day and she said noon, which precluded a date vagueness around midnight… She was a new person we didn’t know; was she telling the truth, perhaps she misremembered…
He also remembered the football match results for any date you named, but unless you are a football fan that is not so interesting. His mother said unfortunately he couldn’t predict future results, only remember past, so winning the football pools was just a dream. Finally she said ‘Okay, he’s done his party trick we’re off now.’ And off he went with his eight library books.
Most of us, if we fly from a busy airport, probably don’t know the make, model and safety record of the plane we are going on. We don’t even see what it looks like on the outside. Perhaps there are apps and websites to go on, I haven’t flown for years so don’t ask me. I certainly know that members of my extended family have flown safely over most continents. If you had access to information that your type of plane often had lose bolts, just like the one whose panel and window fell / was sucked out, at least you could make an informed choice.
Also having a lucky escape were the passengers on the Japanese plane colliding on landing with a small plane which sadly wasn’t so lucky. Do you have trouble finding, doing up and undoing your seat belt when someone offers you a lift in a car you are unfamiliar with? That would be me on the Japanese plane. With my dyspraxic hands I would never get undone in ninety seconds let alone get out, down the chute, film what was happening on my phone and manage not to drop the phone on the way out. Find out the names of the cabin crew and book them for your next flight, they got everyone out safely.
Have you been to a cat café? My Aussie relatives have been on a mega Euro holiday. Having been on husky sleds and met the real Father Christmas, going to a cat café in London was one of the last treats for my great niece. Her aunty booked a table for afternoon tea and it cost £lots, but as cat lovers it was worth it apparently. Coincidentally I had just been down an internet rabbit hole to see what happened to the kitten that didn’t stop growing. Disappointingly it did not turn out to be an albino lion and eat the owner, but an affectionate very large Maine Coon. So I recognised the rather scary, very fluffy cat investigating their scones in the picture that appeared on my phone. Apparently it was not fully grown yet. I think I would rather eat my afternoon tea without a big fluffy cat on the table. At home the relatives’ cats are not allowed out; letting your cat kill the native birds and marsupials of Western Australia is frowned upon.
Ironically they were astonished how many eateries and pubs in England allow dogs in. I guess we have no need for ‘puppy cafes’ as our cafes are already full of dogs.
Have you been on a scary flight?
What is the strangest café you have been in?
Times and Tides of a Beachwriter 
💜
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I haven’t been on a plane since before the pandemic, and I don’t remember the last cafe I was in. Needless to say, I don’t get out much.
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I haven’t been on a plane since early this century, but have managed to clock up plenty of cafes since the lock downs finished, no cat cafes though.
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I haven’t been on a plane since 2013, and nothing I hear about air travel now makes me want to get on board.
There is a cat cafe in Vancouver, British Columbia, but its purpose (ha! purrpose) seems to be as a cat adoption agency. You have to book a visit, and maybe they supply coffee, but the point is to meet cats looking for homes.
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Hello Audrey, I haven’t flown for years and working at Heathrow I was always glad I was just getting on a bus and going home. Looking up cat cafes I saw there were a good few in London. In the one my niece and great niece went to the cats were all rescue cats and up for adoption.
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It is a good idea, as long as the participating cats aren’t stressed and the adoptions are done responsibly.
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No scary plane rides to report. Yet! As for pet cafes plenty of them here or just take your pet for a walk in your rucksack or in a push chair…a common site in the shopping centres or cafes…which I don’t frequent as pets have their place and its not where my food or drink is…
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Pet push chairs have become a thing here as well Carol!
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What happened to dogs on a lead…Crazy you wouldn’t get me pushing my dog in a pushchair 🙂
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How fun that your local library hosts such events every month! I would have loved to see the “autistic savant” doing these date calculations with relative ease! Heck, I have to pull up the calendar app on my laptop just to figure out what day next Wednesday is!
I’ve never been to a cat cafe, but I’ve written about them a time or two! With four furry feline housemates, I have a cat cafe right here at every meal/snack time!
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Hello Jill, yes the staff at the library do all sorts from baby fun times to book clubs. It was the first time I had met an autistic savant, still can’t figure how he did it!
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I went to Paws in /bournemouth once. It was good to have cats around but, ultimately for a cafe, was expensive. I suppose they need all that Wiskas.
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I haven’t been to Paws, but looking it up, it’s still in business. I guess you are paying for the cat’s food and vet bills.
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I tried the new dog cafe here recently. It seemed to be selling lots of leads and dog coats as well as coffee but not the useful stuff like dog food or flea treatment. It was OK and the only dog brought in was well behaved but I prefer the cafe I usually use.
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Well we now know dog cafes do exist!
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I was once on an internal Aeroflot flight in Soviet Central Asia. It was a arge commercial jet, not unlike a DC10. As we approached the airport at Tashkent, there was an announcement over the PA in Russian and Uzbek, not English. Everyone around us started to lean forward, fasten their seatbelts, and put their heads in their hands. So we did the same, wondering what the hell was going on.
The next thing we knew, we were in an emergency landing, with the aircraft wheels still up. I will never forget the moment of impact, followed by a terrible scraping sound as we hurtled along the runway. The aircraft came to a stop, and we were escorted out of it by the burly stewardesses. Emergency vehicles had brought small step-ladders to the exits, they didn’t use any inflatable chutes, and we were too low to the gound for the usual aircraft steps.
Despite being momentarily terrified, it was all over very quickly. Nobody was injured, and there was no fire. My bum hurt for the rest of the week though! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Well Pete that recollection wins for the most dramatic blog reaction. They had probably run out of fuel as well which saved the plane from fire! And at least you were close to the ground.
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Just before the plane door fell off the Boeing 737 we had booked our flights to Sweden – yep, on the same make of plane just a different number and today head of Ryanair did not allay my fears as he stated they had found fault on some of the planes. Only minor – oh well, that’s okay then!😀 I must admit I’m not tempted by cat cafes either, although they seem to do remarkably well! Wishing you a lovely weekend, Janet!
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Hello Annika, oh that is worrying, what will you do? Of course it can be that safety alerts ensure the planes get extra special attention .
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That’s what I’m hoping for. We will still fly but I’ll probably just be more anxious than usual! I’m happier on the ground! 😀
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My flight from OZ to Canada took 16 hours – never again. 😀
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My Aussie relatives have just flown back the Heathrow to Perth non stop route 16-17 hours apparently. I don’t blame you, Not many of us like long flights. I’d rather go by ocean liner.
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Oh, wouldn’t that be wonderful. 😀
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Your friend’s son reminds me of the movie Rainman. 🙂
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Yes Debbie she told us that he was like Rainman, that film must have helped over the years a=explain to people.
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I think it opened many eyes about autism. 🙂
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