I signed an SPCA petition to ban fireworks so that animals are spared the often traumatising time in their neighbourhoods around November 5 when, for obscure reasons, Guy Fawkes is remembered (or not; most of us just think, ‘Fireworks!’ just as Christmas is associated in most people’s minds with loot and overindulgence).

I could also sign up for Felix – all I needed was his paw print. This proved difficult. Much like trying to give a cat a pill, I suspect.

Felix was sleepy and relaxed as I tried to photograph his paw. Another person to take the photo might have helped. The one I used in the end (above) was more like a high five and I’m not sure it translated well to the image required.

My favourite photo of Felix’s paw is this one: a furry fist bump.

In the event, there have been fewer fireworks in our neighbourhood than in the past. Perhaps people are over it. I would like November 5 to be used to remember the peaceful protests and eventual invasion of Parihaka on November 5, 1881, which is still relevant to us*, rather than Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators and their failed gunpowder plot in 1605.

• See Richard Shaw’s The Unsettled