and meandering home

It is really bad that when tired I do tend to meander. Yesterday I got a lift from work to Burnley, took a train to Flinders St, just missed a Broady train and another wasn't coming for 20 minutes so I thought screw it, walked-trammed to Melbourne Central, missed the train, had a pide and some juice - one or the combination of which gave me stomach pains for the rest of the evening, and finally caught the train to Broady. It was getting to be a bit of a 'oh, just missed the train... again' nightmare.

Got home in time for The Simpsons, it was quite a good pair, the repeat was the one where Homer gets his jaw wired shut and becomes charming, the new one was about Bart and Millhouse joining scouts-type organisations, this was advertised as a repeat but I hadn't seen it. Mia hadn't seen either of them.

Millie and Charlie are having promotion/hierarchy debates on a daily basis. In the house, it revolves around who is in the beanbag (which is actually Mia's first place of choice when she's in the living room) who is on the couch and who is relegated to the basket. Charlie also likes the armchair. It's complex but I think it works like this: Millie, as top dog, takes the beanbag when she wants it (she can get into the beanbag when Charlie's in it and they can share it, and Charlie is not allowed to complain, and nor is Charlie allowed to get into the beanbag when Millie is in it). However, the couch, which is positioned higher than the beanbag, is a tactical position. Millie can get on the couch, and look down on Charlie, but Charlie can in no way get on the couch and look down on Millie. Charlie is also not allowed to look at Millie when she is on either the beanbag or the couch. Charlie seems to have free reign as far as the armchair is concerned, as Millie has no interest (it's as high as the couch but this doesn't seem to matter). The basket(s) are neutral, interchangeable places, which they both like, but they clearly see human seats as more prestigious.

The battles involve growling (Millie) and subtle whining (Charlie) and a strange kind of rigid jumping bluff, then the old paw on the back routine - Charlie tries a paw on Millie's back but of course this is not tolerated and Millie always ends up doing major, decisive paw. Millie no doubt feels she fagged for Silver for years just to get to prefect position and I'll be surprised (and a little disappointed) if she capitulates, though Charlie admittedly does have more of a temperament for top dog - tenacious, flighty/aggressive, much braver than Millie.

Soon after Silver died I noticed that Millie had started sleeping the same way as Silver - with her tail tucked around the crook of her back leg. At the time I thought this was spooky, as I knew Millie had never done this before. The other night I realised (decided, I suppose, but 'realised' sounds better) that this is in fact top dog behaviour. It positions the tail in such a way that no-one can sniff your arse when you're sleeping without you being aware of it.