Charlie The Spider Cat

I always thought it was a bit remarkable the way The Bear, despite being arthritic and struggling to jump up to my kitchen worktop, could scale the six foot fence outside my house. However, it seems a bit less so now I've seen Charlie, the ginger and white cat from Falkirk who is making a name for himself owing to his ability to scale a thirteen foot rough cast wall.

Postman Pat: "It's All Grounded In Fact" Shocker

In Under The Paw, I wrote about the time that my postman drove off with an intrepid Shipley inside his van by mistake. At the time, I thought this was just another example of Shipley's general nosiness and attention-seeking, but it turns out that he is not alone. Charlie (pictured above) likes nothing better than helping Nick Lock, a Somerset postman, on his round. More amazingly, Nick is not even his owner. Could it be that Charlie and Shipley are special breed of black mongrel cat with a natural affinity for mail? And does this explain why my friend Alison always, bafflingly, insists on calling Shipley "Charles". It is possible. Although it is equally possible that Shipley, who likes nothing better than getting his teeth into a big fat mailer* in the morning, simply cannot help but get overexcited every time he sees that amount of paper and cardboard in one place.

*Jiffy bags not included.