It's been a good week for ...

fickle cats

Fur is flying on the Isle of Lewis over a wandering moggy who has been somewhat flexible with his affections.

Smudge, aka Oscar, has been leading two Stornoway women a merry dance over the past year. Now a sheriff is being asked to decide who actually owns the pet.

Nicola Dempster claims she bought the animal and had him for six months before he went missing last March. But Della Macdonald has lodged papers at Stornoway Sheriff Court claiming she found the cat and looked after him until he again went missing in August.

In court papers, Mrs Macdonald said she had demonstrated she could look after him better than Ms Dempster. The case is due to be heard next month.

In this catfight, I suspect our feted feline friend is having the last purr.

By now, he’ll probably be off on another grand tour in search of a new lady friend. It seems the Stornoway cat is a seductive cat.

It’s been a bad week for ... cheating

A marathon runner who resorted to unusual methods to secure third place in a race has been disqualified. Rob Sloan, of Sunderland Harriers Athletics Club, ran an impressive time of two hours, 51 minutes to finish third in the Kielder Marathon. However, a number of witnesses said they saw him hopping on a bus, disembarking six miles later to rejoin the race after a wee while spent hiding behind a tree. Well, you wouldn’t want to get to the finish line too quickly and arouse suspicions, would you?

After initially denying the wrongdoing, Mr Sloan has since admitted his guilt and handed back his medal, saying he started to feel tired after 20 miles. Hardly surprising, since he had won a 10K race just the previous day. Perhaps his race strategy needs a little fine-tuning.

Meanwhile, I’d like to know who runs the bus he got on. The ones I travel in would not get you to the finish line before nightfall.