There is nothing quite like watching Alby bounding up the garden to say hello.
Now that we have let him off his lead and free to wander he keeps coming back to check on how we are. Sure this might be anthropomorphising but it is hard to see what else it is. He will see us waving at him from inside the house, run the length of the garden as we hold the door open for him, come in and miaow a couple of times, turn around, and go back out again.
I realise that this will come as no surprise to those of you with cats, and those of you who have been extolling their virtues to me for years, but as someone who assumed that all cats were disdainful and aloof this level of enthusiasm has come as something of a revelation.
The Obvious? 
They are very very good at pandering to our need to be liked by them. I know this having stayed on the sofa in the early hours of the morning today needed to go to the loo and cold, but with Lyra recumbent between body and arm requiring her neck massaging I didn’t dare move.
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It is so funny the way they can be totally cavalier with our feelings and yet we still go out of our way not to upset them. Incredible control.
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Kipling got it right: https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/79/just-so-stories/1296/the-cat-that-walked-by-himself/
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and from Terry:
“Cats are like witches. They don’t fight to kill, but to win. There is a difference. There’s no point in killing an opponent. That way, they won’t know they’ve lost, and to be real winner you have to have an opponent who is beaten and knows it. There’s no triumph over a corpse, but a beaten opponent, who will remain beaten every day of the remainder of their sad and wretched life, is something to treasure.
… you can’t teach cats to do anything. No, not a thing. You might think you can, but that is because you’ve misunderstood what’s going on. You think it’s the cat turning up obediently at the back door at ten o’clock for dinner. From the cat’s point, a blob on legs has been trained to take a tin out of the fridge every night. (UC)
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Alby clearly has much to teach me!
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