Postcards from the Puckmobile – five...

Well if Luna was looking for life experiences she was certainly developing them rapidly. I didn’t think it would be long before her life experience bucket was flowing over; not only did she see things differently and in a way that I couldn’t even imagine, she was becoming very bossy as well.

‘I’m very interested to find out just what a ‘Dead End’ is… turn please.’  Well, at least she’d said please

I really didn’t want to take that turning to nowhere and the idea of a dead end, with a possible long reverse back up the track, didn’t appeal to me at all. I didn’t like reversing, wasn’t much good at it, and I’d spent almost the last five years going backwards. Still, Luna wanted to broaden her horizons, so in the spirit of responsible cat ownership I did as she asked.

As soon as I turned off the track the weather changed; the rain, which had turned to a dank, dark drizzle as we’d been taking tea with the woodsman and his wife, immediately stopped and the evening sky began to lighten. This Dead End track wasn’t as overhung and enclosed as the Not A Short Cut track, and above me - if I leaned forward and peered out of the windscreen at the sky - I was sure I could see a tiny bit of blue... enough to make a sailor’s hat, but not enough for a jacket; I thought.

Well, the daylight wouldn’t last long and I didn’t fancy driving this lane on the Puckster’s headlights; they weren’t that strong.

“I hope we get to Nowhere before it becomes too dark.” I said to Luna, who was sitting on top of the blue vinyl dashboard ignoring every aspect of Health and Safety legislation and the Highway Code to boot.

“We’ll be fine.” Luna responded, “We’ll be at Dead End before we know it. Now I’m going to have a little nap, wake me up when you get me to Nowhere.”

An hour or so later she remained asleep as I peered out of the windscreen trying to make sure that I stayed in the centre of the track by the thin beams of the campervan headlights. I really should have tried replacing the bulbs before we set out, but as I mentioned my mechanical skills are so limited that they don’t amount to much more than filling up the windscreen washer bottle - not that I knew where it was on the Puckster… Hmm, I needed to look into that.

The sky grew darker and darker, above us I could see the first twinkle of stars. Once something large and white flashed just in front of the windscreen before disappearing in the trees; I hoped it was a big barn owl, or an old carrier bag picked up by the breeze and not something else.

We had to be there soon; if Nowhere was a there and not simply a Dead End as the sign predicted.

“We’re almost there.” Luna purred from her perch upon the dashboard.

I had no idea just when she’d woken up, but she seemed to be wide awake now.

“How do you know?” I asked.

“I can smell it.”

“Smell what?”

“How should I know? I’ve told you before, I’m only a kitten; in olfactory life experience terms it’s all pretty much milk, food, deodorant, and litter trays at the moment. This smells different - like air, but more.”

Like air, but more - and then I could smell it too…

THE

SEA