Oh yes
Was visiting g-gran earlier and she lives on a very typical old fashioned Coventry 'avenue', she lives on the cusp of this big winding road and the houses are quite close at her part..anyway..as i walked down the pathway to where her house is, a rather large [well HUGE] longhaired dark tortie was walking across the low front garden fences following me..in the end i gave 'her' a stroke and fuss etc when a rather elderly gentlemen appeared from a front door of one of the houses and asked if i was being hassled by 'charlie' and I replied no, all was well. This man went onto laugh and say how 'Charlie' was always mugging passers by for fuss, and my response was 'Well she is gorgeous, who could resist?'
He gave me a funny look and said she?, since when have you seen a queeny that big!
Turns out this rather beautiful tortie was infact a male, and quite a geriatric at 17 too. Apparently he was acquired from a lady down the way as a tiny kitten.
It is quite strange though, i've never met a male tortoiseshell in my life! Let alone one who according to his owner sired a litter of kittens the weekend before he was booked in for the 'chop'
Curious...really curious!