Aga Boy

My old boy sleeping where it's warmest.

Ladies and gentleman, I give you: Tiddy Two Dinners.

He has a great history. He came to us via social services. A couple with learning disabilities had been living together, and the girl in the couple chucked her boyfriend out, as well as Tiddles, the cat. The social worker re-homed the young man, but was at a loss to know what to do with the cat. So, she rang us up. He arrived with a bag full of toys, including a stuffed train, and the cord from a curtain. He also had a likeness for Crisps, and all food human. We tried to re-name him Solomon but it never quite worked out, and Tiddles eventually became instead Tiddy. We tried to wean him off human food although if you forget a bag of crisps, he's in there in a flash dragging them off like a cave man pulling a dinosaur leg back to the cave.

He has had a few scrapes over the years. One time he sliced his leg open. On a Sunday, naturally, necessitating a trip to the emergency vet and (I still remember this) a bill of £200. Having been fed human food, he has encountered a number of difficulties with his bladder and has been on a special diet for many years. He costs us a fortune.

Once, when we lived in Manchester he was playing in a very large cherry tree in the house next door. Anyway, he didn't come in for his tea. Where was he? I went to look for him, and I could hear him but not see him and finally looked up. Somehow, the cherry branch he had ended up on, weighted down by his not inconsiderable frame, had scraped the roof of the house next door. The branch had pinged back and he was stuck up there running frantically up and down, up and down. So I went next door but one, asked if I could go into their loft, and lean out, and so I did, and the silly old duffer ran towards faster than the speed of light.

He is getting old now. 14 maybe 15 and ever thinner even though he still eats like a horse. We have taken to giving him fish to eat. Well, he deserves it, lovely old boy that he is.

If you've got a few spare pounds PLEASE consider donating to this amazing idea. It will enable 40 care leavers to have the Christmas Dinner of their life. I know both the poets involved, both of whom have come from the care system, and think that what they are doing is a brilliant thing, The Christmas Dinner/