Potpourri @ No 10

Well - lots of things to tell you today. First of all though, I must tell you of poor old Larry's humiliation yesterday! Our Boy David - who being an ex-PR man of great distinction, never ever leaves anything to chance. Yesterday, before all the rumpus about the Archbishop broke out, our Boy David had arranged a special photo call. He was to be sitting in a Mini Cooper outside No 10 and about to thank BMW chairman, Norbert Reithofer, for £500 million invested in the Mini factory in Cowley, Oxfordshire. What a great picture! Well worth taking time to comb one's hair, brush one's teeth and rehearse one's smile. He had not, of course reckoned with feline wiles.

No - my friends, not my wiles, not even old Arturo's wiles - but the wiles of the upstairs cat - Larry. There were pictures all over the 'Evening Standard', last night. The pictures were not of a smiling Boy David and a gratified Norbert Reithofer! No indeedy, they were of a disgruntled Larry. There were 4 pics in all! Two of Larry in a policeman's arms looking all limp and languid! One of Larry being put on the door mat. Last and largest of all, there was Larry with a policeman's boot right under his tail!

Even an under stairs cat would feel humiliated by that! I'm not saying the boot touched the butt! But it was embarrassing to say the least! (www.thisislondon.co.uk Puss 'n' boots: 'Downing Street cat feels long leg of the law' by Tom Harper on 9 Jun 2011). The comments made afterwards would have made old Larry blush - if blush he could!

Of course the photographers had lost interest by the time Norbert turned up - so no pics of him and grinning Boy David!

Today, we had some real heroes at No 10. Not the puffed up sort who reckon they've done a day's work by nodding their heads on the benches behind the PM in the Commons. No, these were real heroes. Our Boy David actually did something useful today - with not a u-turn in sight. He held a ‘Downing Street Poppy Party’ to celebrate 90 years of the British Legion. He invited 160 guests, including injured Service personnel, bereaved Armed Forces families and veterans of Afghanistan and previous conflicts.

Arturo and I watched from behind the velour curtains. One lady dropped a piece of bread and butter with some lovely smelling fish on it, within an inch of Arturo's nose. Needless to say - he had it! I managed to grab a piece of chicken that also fell off a plate.

Boy David was on good form - seemed genuinely interested. No sign of the rehearsed smiles and nods. Of course, he may have had those Stanislavski acting lessons, I suggested!

And now, of course, tomorrow is Saturday, so another 'rest cure' couple of days for Boy David to wind down. The traumas of the week have been survived - just! The trials of next week - are yet to come!

Meanwhile, Arturo and I are planning some little outings of our own, this weekend. Tell you more soon. Till then, it's 'See you, later', from me:

And, it's 'See you soon' from Arturo: