I have a colleague I don't particularly like very much, and I know for a fact she's not my biggest fan either. However, although we were once total bitches to each other, we called a truce six months or so ago when we discovered that we're both hardcore cat lovers and, provided we don't talk about anything but cats, we don't kill each other. Anyway, as we found ourselves with no choice but to work together a couple of days ago, we talked about the cats we had as when we were children.

I told her about Freya, the tortoisehell cat I had until I was six. No more than two days after Freya died, a much younger but otherwise identical tortoiseshell appeared on the doorstep and let us know in that way cats do that our house was now her home, so we'd better start feeding her. Obviously, she also became Freya, and she lived with us for 22 years.

Then, on my way home, I spotted a tortoiseshell cat who looked exactly the same as Freya I and Freya II, sitting on the churchyard wall and staring intently at me as I cycled past.

Sometimes, it's not surprising some people believe in ghosts, reincarnation and related woo!