I've recently given up my employment with the Inland Revenue (!)due to a sudden illness which meant I had to retire earlier than I really wished to do;now I'm trying to start a new life and Helium seems an ideal starting point - I've always wanted to write and have done lots in the past, as a member of Creative writing classes. But although my writing's been praised, and I've felt highly encouraged, I've never really had anything published. (I say 'really' as I've had letters in magazines published and once a snippet in a book which I don't relly think count.)

I'm also currently completing a proofreading course with Chapterhouse - hopefully this will help keep the wolf from the door!

My other big passion, apart from writing that is, is animals: I've eight cats and I have just returned very upset, I must say, from Kefalonia; having fed the cats, with a little help from my husband, I have been forced to leave them to their own devices - I think about the kittens every day and pray for them, as well as my own recovery from illness.

Anyway, I'll finish and get back to feeding the said cats, which anyone who's ever owned as pets will know are terribly demanding and fussy eaters! Lookking forward to contributing to Helium and 'meeting' at least a few of you, as I hope to be much less lonely in the future.

Pets & Animals > Animal Rescue & Adoption How to end animal homelessness

17 of 27

On holiday in Crete I and my husband as usual fed dozens of stray cats which seemed to depend
on visitors to the holiday complex where we were staying. I became increasingly sad as the time to leave approached; some of the kittens appeared to be newborn, some of the grownups' bellies were pinched in as if they had experienced long periods of semi-starvation. I approached locals and asked them what happened to the stray cats once we, the holidaymakers had left the island - they said, 'A nice lady from a cattery picks them up and feeds them for the winter, looks after them well'. An overwh...

More..

Donated to charity: $0.03