We went for a short walk in the eastern parts of this particular suburb we call home, and on the return journey saw a small cat on the pavement. Stopping to pat it for a while, I listened to an expletive-laden male voice booming out of a house across the street. Some small girls sat in the junk-strewn front garden, trying not to notice what was going on inside. Predictably, the cat was theirs - as we walked off, they called softly and it wandered across the street to them.