Up and out early, I got to the allotment ready to help Cliff take some builder's bags of rubbish to the tip. I opened up the shed and fed some kale to the Weed Destroyers. Between us, we lugged the horrendously heavy red builder's bag from the Community Garden up to the back path. Cliff reversed up the back path in the car to attach the trailer. As he was reversing, I spotted a ginger cat with white markings on its face limping across the back path. It seemed spooked by the car and by my presence. With one final look at me, it hobbled through the fence into the car park behind. Pausing, I debated calling the local vet before realising without it would be useless without catching the cat. Instead, I had a browse on a lost pet group and discovered a post about a ginger cat with white facial markings that had gone missing a couple of days ago. I posted a comment and waited for a reply.

Realising I was supposed to be helping Cliff, I dashed to the back gate to help get the bags into the trailer which was relatively straightforward. Next, off drove around to the main gate on Henry Street to collect the bags from the front of the site. As he did that, I hauled the heavy red bag to the car park. Once it was out of the way, I looked down and to my horror, realised the diamond from my engagement ring had gone. Panicked, I frantically searched around, hoping that it would be somewhere obvious. No such luck.

I went around to help Cliff load up the bags into the car. We set off for the tip, pulling up to the Garden Waste skip without having to queue for long. The advantage of dropping off stuff during the week! With one trip complete, we drove back to the site to do the second trip. Another trailer and car load ready, I received a message from the cat's owner saying they were driving across to try and find him. He is called Hugo and they have only recently moved into the area. We offered to help just as soon as we got back from the second tip run. Our second run went smoothly although that heavy red bag was difficult to get off the trailer. It was far too heavy to lift, so we took out handfuls of the garden waste and threw it in.

Jumping back into the car, we dashed back to meet the lady who had lost her cat. I walked her around where I thought the cat had gone after jumping through the fence. Apparently his name is Hugo and he is 11 years old. His concerned family spent quite a while walking around shouting for him but without any luck. We arranged that they would drop back later this evening to try again. With the cat people leaving, I walked up to Cliff's shed and we sat enjoying the sunshine. It was really hot so I ambled across to the corner shop and picked up a couple of ice creams. There really is nothing like sitting in the sunshine, surrounded by flowers and enjoying a delicious ice cream!

Just before I headed home, I quickly ran around the chicken coops and fed the girls. Tommy was very grumpy and shouted at me. I think his beak has been put out of joint by the cockerel in the coop on Mick the Greek's plot. Eggs collected and treats distributed, I went home to wait for it to get dark.

About half five, I received a message from Hugo's owner saying they were heading down again. I grabbed my keys and helped them continue looking. Still no luck but hopefully we will find him tomorrow. Several other people on site have seen him and cat tend to be creatures of habit. Since going missing on Sunday, he will have made himself a little routine and I hope he reappears on site tomorrow morning!

Not long after the cat owners had gone, Liz and Sarah appeared and helped me search for my diamond. We chatted as we swept the ground on the paths about the upcoming AGM and some of the things we thought would come up at the meeting. By the time it was fully dark, we called it a night and headed back home.

So tomorrow morning I will again be down early to try to find the missing cat and to have one last search for my missing diamond. Sadly, the paperwork I have been ignoring for the past few weeks hasn't done itself, so I think I will bring my work laptop down to the shed and get it done.

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