Jeg håber I kane bære over med at denne rapport er på engelsk - jeg har
skrevet den til en engelsksproget korat-liste jeg er på... Jeg orker
ganske simpelt ikke at oversætte den.
mvh Camilla
This "report" is written in several stages as so many things
happened, I had to make notes so as not to forget anything...
It's Sunday evening in Wales after a hectic couple of days.
There are several stories in this: testmating Tammy (aka Primprau's
Silver Tamruat), getting Tammy into UK, and the 2nd KCA Show. Even
though the past few days have been confusing, I hope this report will
be more coherent.
(Just to make things easier: BP = Thai Blue Point, TL = Thai Lilac,
KCA = Korat Cat Association, KCI = Korat Cats International.)
Everything started about a year ago when the second Silver/Buri
litter produced a BP kitten. After the initial surprise had worn off,
came the question: what about Tammy (who is from the first
Silver/Buri mating)? Is he a BP carrier or not...? How do I find out?
I decided to write a piece for the KCA Newsletter explaining the
situation and asking if any BP breeders in UK/GCCF might be
interested in helping me testmate Tammy for carrying BP. This would
serve a double purpose as I saw it - the BP breeders would get a
wider gene pool to work with and I might save "my line". (Tammy is
the last cat in my cattery from "my lines" and the only kitten from
Buri in breeding - he sums up my whole breeding program and more.)
Jane Couch contacted me about Tammy as she is interested in breeding
BPs and needed a stud for her girls. Since one of her girls is a TL
and another carries chocolate, we have agreed to testmate him for
carrying chocolate as well.
Tammy will no doubt be happy in his nice new stud quarters. He was
given a very warm welcome by a queen in heat - something he has been
yearning for for a while.
He has already charmed the Couches who are learning fast what it
means to keep a stud.
Tammy has sprayed his quarters and marks
them every time they visit him - entailing frequent changes of
clothes...
Friday was a *long* day... Up at 5AM, out of the door at 6AM, plane
to Brussels - no problem.
Got to Brussels anticipating a 2 hour wait. Found out (after some
confusion and many miles of walking) that cats cannot enter UK
through an approved PETS Passport route as excess baggage (as I had
misread the British Midland website to say) , but *must* be handled
by a cargo company - even if all PETS Passport papers are ok... This
meant a *6 (six) hour* wait in Brussels Airport (as I insisted on
travelling on the same plane as Tammy) and a large unexpected expense
which had to be paid in cash on the spot. Finally it was time for the
departure of the flight to London and we got to London safely though
exhausted.
At Heathrow Airport, I first had to go to the British Midland Cargo
Centre to pick up a receipt for my cat who was at the quarantine
station - or Animal Reception Centre as it is now called - further
down the road. Then to the quarantine station to pick up Tammy - or
so I thought... Because my vet had forgotten to put THE TIME of the
tick and tapeworm treatment on the form, they had to assume the
treatment was given at midnight - to ensure that it was between 24
and 48 hours old... so Tammy had to be kept in quarantine till
midnight! After all the trouble we had been through with getting his
PETS Passport ready! A great nuisance and another unexpected expense.
To further add to the confusion at the quarantine station, several
people had tried to reach me and had left urgent messages for me to
contact them... I was supposed to have been staying at Jen's but that
was not possible now, so Isobel came to my rescue - again! By the
time Issy and I picked up Tammy at midnight, Tammy and I had been
travelling for 20 hours. I was exhausted, but Tammy seemed to be very
excited about spending the night in Issy's outdoor cat run with a
heated and lit room with a bed, food, water, and a litter tray.
Before picking up Tammy, Issy had a phone call from Jen asking if we
could somehow contact Donatella at Stansted and ask her to wait...
Jen had fallen down the stairs and dislocated her shoulder, Brian was
getting her to a hospital to get it set straight again - he would
pick up Donatella at Stansted asap. Donatella never got my message
and ended up spending the night at Stansted without knowing what was
happening... Brian made it to Stansted at 5:30AM - needless to say
they arrived at show slightly delayed. We were delighted that they
made it at all!
I was prepared to withdraw Tammy from competition at the show
Saturday due to him being too stressed - much to my surprise, he
seemed to enjoy the attention at the show and didn't seem the least
bit stressed, so he stayed in the competition. He started by spraying
his cage so he could feel at home and then he settled down. In the
afternoon he fell asleep looking very peaceful.
Tammy had a very good show actually - especially considering the
circumstances... He won his Open Class and 4 of the 5 side classes he
was entered in (Debutante Adult, Maiden Adult, Novice Adult, KCA Club
Class - Adult Male). He lost 5th out of 5 the KCA Special Class -
"Special Award for the Exhibit (A/K/N) presented in Best Overall
Condition" - after the ordeal of the day before, I am happy he won
anything at all!
Tammy was also Nominated for Best In Show together with three other
Korats: GRC Koorahk Frank, CH Charlwin Starshine, and Ailsadell
Suwilard. Best In Show Adult Korat was CH Charlwin Starshine -
Congrats, Jen!
Charlwin Goldengirl was Best In Show Neuter Korat - congrats to Mr
Barter!
Best in Show Korat Kitten was Chuasiri Kwahmlahp - congrats to Jo &
Phil!
Overall Best In Show Korat was Star! Jen has every reason to be proud
of this beautiful Korat!
For the first time ever KCI awarded a trophy for the Overall Best
Korat In Show - this of course went to Jen and Star. Congratulations!
Meeting Jane Couch (and her father Michael and later her mother
Susan) was the icing on the cake. It was so clear that they would do
their best to make Tammy's life with them as comfortable for him as
possible.
I am already looking forward to the next KCA Show which according to
the catalogue is *April 5th, 2003* together with the Abyssinian Cat
Association, Rex Cat Association, and Exotic Cat Club. The KCA Show
is a good way of seeing many British Korats and meeting British
korateers - quite a few are active on koratworld list, some are
lurkers - all are very friendly and greatly enjoyable to meet.
____________________________
Continued Tuesday...
Finally relaxing at Heathrow waiting to know which gate my flight is
departing from.
Jane picked me up at 4:30 this morning and drove me to Swansea
Central Bus Station from where I was to take a bus to Heathrow - a
4,5h drive. In Cardiff the driver told us that the bus was breaking
down - the electrical systems were slowly ceasing to function...
there would be another bus to our destinations in 45min time coming
from Swansea. luckily I had plenty of time so this delay didn't make
me too nervous about missing my plane, but others on the bus had
problems due to this delay.
Once in Heathrow, everything went smoothly. At 11:30AM (at the time
of the Queen Mother's funeral in London) the loudspeakers announced a
2 minute silence at the airport. It was impressive and touching to
witness how the otherwise busy, noisy and somewhat chaotic departure
hall at Heathrow came to a total standstill for 2 minutes - people
stopped dead in their tracks in the middle of the gangways - a little
like in the pictures of Sleeping Beauty. It was very moving.
--
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