We will keep up with the Caturday felids while I’m on my trip, or so I hope. A week from today is my free day in London, and I have to decide which museum—and which pub—to visit.
First, meet Gandalf, a fluffy gray cat who happens to be a rescue cat, taken from a pet shop in Seoul, South Korea that was closing. Yahoo News reports on Gandalf, who now travels the world with his leash and his staff:
“He was 5 weeks old with a respiratory infection and the sweetest little face!” his owners, who now live in northern California, wrote to ABC News.
Coming up with the cat’s creative name was a no-brainer.
“We are avid ‘Lord of the Rings’ fans and when we saw his cute little beard we knew his name was Gandalf. He was born a Gandalf,” they explained.
From the moment they rescued Gandalf he “always wanted to go with us to places so we decided to try the leash and see if he would like it,” his owners said. “He didn’t mind at all!”
Gandalf, 2, couldn’t get enough of all the new scenery.
“Gandalf was so impressed by all the wide open spaces and landscapes in the U.S. that we wanted to show him more,” they recalled. “We decided to do a road trip back to our home state of California and show Gandalf historic sites and national parks along the way!”
The couple has captured Gandalf’s purr-fect adventures across multiple states and countries on his Instagram account, where he’s amassed more than 14,000 followers.
“The Grand Canyon, Yosemite and the Redwoods of Mendocino County have been his favorite locations so far,” his owners wrote.
. . . He’s loved his time in northern California, but the happy family will soon be moving to New Zealand.
Maybe I’ll meet him there, along with Jerry Coyne the Cat!
“Gandalf is looking forward to learning some more of northern California’s history and hopes to visit a few more national parks before he moves across the Pacific to New Zealand,” they said.
You can see more photos of Gandalf here, and here’s a video:
A Daily Mail article gives information and photos of other traveling cats, and there’s a new site, Adventure Cats, that tells you how to prepare your cat for traveling adventures and what you’ll need to take your moggie along to the backcountry.
********
Love Meow reports on Felix, a lovely female tuxedo cat who lives in the Huddersfield Railway Station in West Yorkshire, England, She was brought there to catch mice, but has just been promoted. Five years in, “Felix is now Senior Pest Controller and even has earned her very own visibility jacket and name tag.”
“She was a few weeks old when she came to the station. Donated by a colleague,” Huddersfield Railway Station told Love Meow.
“Her daily duties include begging for food from passengers and colleagues. Patrolling the platforms, occasionally making an appearance in the concourse. And chasing off the odd rodent. She has been known to wander down to Dominos Pizza when bored.”
Look at that magnificent ruff!
Here she is with her name tag and “visibility jacket”:
If you’re at the station, look her up, preferably take pictures, and report back to me. In the meantime, you can check out Felix’s own Facebook Page.
*******
Finally, Bored Panda tells us about some special smartphone gloves with an ailurophilic flair. They’re Japanese, and the advertising video is below:
Designed by Felissimo and YOU+MORE, the gloves are made from a suede-like material and have a fluffy inside, as well as conductive pads on the thumb and index finger that let you text in the coldest winter.
You can choose from 3 different kitties for US$36 (4,295 yen).
More info: Felissimo | YOU+MORE (h/t: rocketnews24, designtaxi)
I’ll take a pass on these, but they’re very kawaii. While looking at these, I also found a very strange Japanese video, clearly from a television show, whose content baffles me. But I’m sure we have at least one reader who can tell us what’s going on here:
h/t: Ginger K.. Lauren, Heather Hasie
As an alternative to the regular museums a tour of Tower Bridge is worthwhile. Did it last time I was back London. If you are in that part of town there are numerous historic and interesting pubs, many on the south side of the river and/or hit Borough market for interesting refueling options.
Have a good trip – I’ll be heading for Heathrow in three weeks.
I agree the walk along the south bank of the Thames is great.
Start at Tower Bridge and head west. You’ll see the city hall, the HMS Belfast, Borough Market, the Tate Modern (my personal favorite museum in London), Shakespeare’s Globe, the London Eye, etc.
When I lived in London years ago, I chose the south bank right by Tower Bridge as my home base.
I’m now working on South Bank. Even in winter it’s a nice walk along the river to the station.
Any foodies should check out Borough Market. Many, many noms. Get there towards the end of the day for insane bargains!
The Globe is great. Interesting tour, but try and get a £5 ticket for the pit. I’ve seen Shakespeare at the RSC and also at the Globe (amongst others), the Globe gives an experience that is very different to your normal theatre.
The Eye is tourist-y but actually pretty cool. Tate Modern – IMO the best thing about it is the Turbine Hall. When there’s an exhibition that uses the space well it is a very visceral experience (I don’t really do art galleries, but this was absolutely breathtaking).
Not many cats get to go on these wonderful adventures. But is happening more now. Lucky cat.
Yes, a very lucky cat, that Gandalf. From a Pet Shop in Seoul, one chance in millions. Been to Seoul many times and never saw a pet shop. No pet shops in Itaewon.
Actually, cats are “in” now in Japan. Their numbers have gradually been increasing while the number of d*gs has been decreasing for a few years so they are almost equal in number, which is unusual in an Asian country (India has ten times as many d*gs as cats).
So although I don’t know that TV show, it looks like they have a special segment near the end of the show where they invite someone to bring in a cat that has some interesting attribute. This cat, Haruma, weighs 7kg (about 15 pounds). The “tarento” (talents, or celebrities) on the show ask the owner questions like what’s the cat’s name, what does it like to do, etc. The owner said it doesn’t like other cats. They then try to play with it using cat toys, but it doesn’t really respond. At the very end, one woman sniffs its butt and declares that it has a “good smell.” Don’t ask me what that was about!
I was watching the video waiting for the outbreak of Japanese weirdness, but gave up half-way through.
Ah, not let down by Japanese weirdness. Again.
From the titles, it seems that the cat appeared on some TV ad – they discuss at the beginning how it got chosen (it’s way of sitting still).
It did seem a very chilled-out cat, so I guessed that this was not it’s first time in a studio.
“Uh, hello, Fire Department? We have a cat up a tree here…”