When my beloved Teook died in 2002, I couldn't imagine life without a cat in the house, so I suggested to my daughter Cathy that we should go into Cat Haven in Shenton Park and look for another cat. 

I had some thoughts on what I wanted.  Firstly it had to be a female so that it wouldn't fight with the very old and sick male cat next door.  She had to be black, as Cathy & I wore mostly dark coloured clothes. 

She had to be past the silly kitten stage as Cathy & I both worked and wouldn't be able to spend the time with a kitten.  She had to like people and dogs as we have two Shetland Sheep Dogs. 

So we set off for the cat shelter and on the way I said to Cathy that I hoped I would get a sign to show me which cat to get.  But as hard as I could, the word sign kept being shine. 

So I said to Cathy that this was a sign that the cat's name was to be Shine.  Cathy said that wouldn't it be funny if there was a light shining on the cage of the cat we take.

When we got to Cat Haven, we asked a volunteer if there were any young black female cats there and he took me to a cage where a small black female cat was sitting in her basket. 

The sign on the front of the cage said that she was 2 years old and loved kids and dogs.  Yes, and you guessed it, the sun came out and a large beam of light fell across the floor and rested on Shine's cage.