The Cat Hero of the Month is Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw, who, reported the BBC, swerved his car (an £80,000 Mercedes) while driving to avoid hitting a cat, flipping his own car (presumably damaging it heavily) and also hitting another car. The good news is that Grimshaw and the cat were fine:
“The car went upside down. I’m absolutely fine,” [Grimshaw] told colleagues on the station’s breakfast show.
“I turned out of my house, my car flipped over and went over on its side,” he explained.
“People were like, ‘You can’t have been doing 15 miles per hour.’ I was, that’s how embarrassing this was.
“I came out of my street, turned right, saw quite a large ginger cat. I was like, ‘Oh no, a cat.’ Rather than killing the cat, I drove into a car.
“The car that I hit made my car tip over. The woman’s car is absolutely fine… She needs a new wheel arch, which I guess I’m paying for.”
. . . “The cat’s fine. It sat there for the full two hours while I was out in the street,” he said.
“The cat met the police, the cat met the fire brigade, the cat watched me make a call to insurance to organise someone to pick the car up.”Nick Grimshaw was on his way to make a guest appearance on Annie Mac’s show to discuss the new Frank Ocean album, alongside MistaJam.
Instead he waited on the street, as his £80,000 G-Wagon was towed away.
A statement from his agent confirmed the news, saying: “”Nick is absolutely fine – he was driving at no more than 15mph and he swerved to avoid a cat.”
The cat, thought to be a local stray tabby, is said to be fine as well.
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Cat massages. Here is one thing a cat can do that a dog can’t. Who says that cats are of no practical value?
Good for the lower back, too . . .
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Finally, yet another adorable example of interspecific love. The YouTube notes say this:
A 16-year-old cat called Rosinka has adopted a baby monkey which was abandoned by its mother in a Russian zoo. (Aug. 23).
Somehow I don’t think this amity will continue when the squirrel monkey grows up!
h/t: Aaron F., Joyce K.
Nick Grimshaw will be recommended for beatification if such felid-friendly swerving ever results in his demise. Furthermore, I think some folks in Stuttgart owe him a new set of wheels.
Nice job avoiding the cat. But really, when you are driving a tank…they drive like a tank.
That was my immediate thought too.
My second thought was, that does an injustice to tanks, which are much more stable.
cr
Wait a minute. The driver of the overturned car is “absolutely fine”, the car he crashed into is “absolutely fine”, but the cat is merely “fine”?
Now I’m worried.
Sounds like the DJ should adopt the kitty. That would be the perfect ending to that story. I did the same thing for a raccoon. I wrecked my car and then lied and said that I swerved to miss a deer. I was still a kid and knew my dad would throw a fit if he knew I wrecked my car over a raccoon. Now that he’s gone I guess I can finally be honest.
Dang it – I meant purrfect.
I hope he had total situational awareness. Suddenly swerving to avoid a surprising but surmountable non-human obstacle in a crowded urban setting is dangerous.
What if there were kids to hit instead of someone car?
You never have ‘total situational awareness’.
By the time you work out if the suddenly-appearing obstacle is human and to be avoided at all costs, or non-human and hence a legitimate target, you’ve hit it.
I would certainly swerve to avoid a cat, urban setting or not.
cr
The British Highway Code used to specifically say not to swerve to avoid small animals for precisely the reason that you might cause harm to a human. I just did a quick search of the current Highway Code and that rule does not seem to be mentioned anymore.
In any case, I’ve been in a similar situation and I found it impossible to take a decision to deliberately run over an animal because by the time I had rationalised it, my reflexes had already swerved me around it – fortunately, without injury or damage to anybody or anything.
Regarding kitty massage, in my house we call it “kitty acupuncture”. Our master acupuncturist realizes that is is far more effective on tender bare flesh, as well. If no tender bare flesh is handy, he goes for my boobs. Damned cat!
Meanwhile, tragically: Truck plunges off San Diego bridge into crowd below; 4 dead”
I wouldn’t have clicked on the link if I hadn’t misread the first word in the headline and thought it was good news.
And did the cat in question show any sign of gratitude or concern for the driver who endangered his own life to spare the cat? I’m guessing no.
My cat doesn’t thank me for taking her to the vet, but I do it anyway.