Wednesday. Now the local elections are over we can talk party animals. PAN, ‘Pessoas, Animais (e) Natureza, or the People, Animals (and) Nature Party, makes small, incremental differences but has influence. They have introduced a Bill to prohibit the chaining of dogs, or keeping them forever on a veranda or rooftop. The proposed legislation encompasses an awareness-raising campaign for ‘de-chaining’.

Drain Surgery, the Unadoptables and Don’t Cry for Zoos, Ayamonte. Wednesday - A cat down a drain: the cat was presumably minding its own business before being chased by a dog, and fled down a drain.  This was a feral cat that could not then be coaxed out.

Friday in clammy August. I read that in extreme temperatures we can sweat between 10 -14 litres a day. Doesn’t surprise me, as I wring out my clothes when I get home  Just hope we can get through this without hellfire and high waters. Horses sweat, like humans. Dogs and cats have fewer sweat glands, apparently, and have to pant and release sweat from their paw pads. A good temperature gauge is to look at the length of a cat when supine.

Saturday. Two more female cats have been neutered and released, paid for by public donations to the ADAPO* Urban Cats Project in Olhão. This time from a colony around the Olhanense stadium. A tabby was named Mel, or ‘honey’ and a black cat, Ratinha, which could translate as ‘little mouse’ or ‘little rat’, depending on whether she’d been behaving herself, as there is always some ambiguity in translation.

Saturday.  Two cats are released after neutering. The previous week Célia had only managed to capture one cat in the bairro of Horta do Pádua in Olhão.  We asked the vet to name her Siouxie Sue on the microchip, but then it was found that she was quite old and had no teeth. And she was pregnant. Perhaps we’d better drop the ‘have a cat named after you’ idea. We certainly don’t want to link anyone with a toothless old crone of a cat.

ACCA Kids and Castelo de Sonhos are once again appealing for assistance to ensure that children who often “do without” will, this year, have all they need to return to school. As well as the backpacks every child needs black exercise books, pens, pencils, rubbers, sharpeners, A4 files, set squares, scissors etc.

Monday. I receive a birthday card that reads “You are one year closer to being a Crazy Cat Lady”.  Hmmm. Too late. What was I supposed to do with retirement? I played Candy Crush for a year, then I helped in a charity shop. I’ve found, though, that nothing beats shifting sacks of cat poo. You can keep your watercolours and golf.

Saturday.  We’re just about to lock up and leave the ADAPO* cat refuge for the day, when Célia gets a dreaded phone call from the bombeiros: another litter of newborn kittens has been rescued from a subterranean rubbish bin.