Fare Dodger
December 15, 2011 6:05 AM Subscribe
He'd not last long on ScotRail.
posted by Abiezer at 6:11 AM on December 15, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by Abiezer at 6:11 AM on December 15, 2011 [5 favorites]
awesome
posted by leotrotsky at 6:12 AM on December 15, 2011
posted by leotrotsky at 6:12 AM on December 15, 2011
"I hadn't seen him all morning until my daughter Emily told me one of her friends had just seen him on the bus at Charmouth.
Love it.
posted by vacapinta at 6:18 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
Love it.
posted by vacapinta at 6:18 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
"Moggy?" Could someone please translate?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:19 AM on December 15, 2011
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:19 AM on December 15, 2011
The ginger moggy, who was named after the Artful Dodger from Oliver Twist, has taken to hopping on and off the public transport at the bus station near his home
Have these people never seen Oliver and Company*? Dodger is a dog, that cat is clearly Oliver.
*Yes, I realize the odds of these middle aged British people having seen a mediocre American kids' movie of the late 80s is low, work with me people.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:19 AM on December 15, 2011
Have these people never seen Oliver and Company*? Dodger is a dog, that cat is clearly Oliver.
*Yes, I realize the odds of these middle aged British people having seen a mediocre American kids' movie of the late 80s is low, work with me people.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:19 AM on December 15, 2011
Free rides??? Why is the tax payer underwriting this feline's bus rides? What has this feline contributed to the GDP?? More evidence of government waste on an international level.
posted by spicynuts at 6:20 AM on December 15, 2011 [7 favorites]
posted by spicynuts at 6:20 AM on December 15, 2011 [7 favorites]
"Moggy?" Could someone please translate?
"moggy" = the Britspeak version of "Kitty".
And this story is evidence that cats are both weird and awesome.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:23 AM on December 15, 2011
"moggy" = the Britspeak version of "Kitty".
And this story is evidence that cats are both weird and awesome.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:23 AM on December 15, 2011
"Given this cat is elderly we suspect it would be eligible for free travel, perhaps a bus puss, if such a thing existed."
slowclap.gif
posted by uncleozzy at 6:24 AM on December 15, 2011 [7 favorites]
slowclap.gif
posted by uncleozzy at 6:24 AM on December 15, 2011 [7 favorites]
Moggy == cat. I mostly associate that word with the Irish, but it may be more widespread throughout the UK.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 6:25 AM on December 15, 2011
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 6:25 AM on December 15, 2011
There are never stray cats on any bus I am ever on, unfortunately.
posted by jeather at 6:29 AM on December 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by jeather at 6:29 AM on December 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
This reminds me of Oscar, the cat who liked to attend public meetings.
James Herriot described one house call going something like: "Oh, you want Oscar? Well, let's see, today's Tuesday, so he went to the Lady's Auxiliary at St. Mary's this morning and tonight he'll be at the dress rehearsal for Pirates of Penzance. What's this afternoon - oh yes, the Girl Guides are at the town hall. He'll be there."
posted by likeso at 6:45 AM on December 15, 2011 [5 favorites]
James Herriot described one house call going something like: "Oh, you want Oscar? Well, let's see, today's Tuesday, so he went to the Lady's Auxiliary at St. Mary's this morning and tonight he'll be at the dress rehearsal for Pirates of Penzance. What's this afternoon - oh yes, the Girl Guides are at the town hall. He'll be there."
posted by likeso at 6:45 AM on December 15, 2011 [5 favorites]
No only is he a fare dodger, but I bet he puts his feet up on the seats as well. Typical!
posted by Jehan at 7:05 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Jehan at 7:05 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
That's nothing. In Portland we have a coyote that rides light rail. And Sleater-Kinney wrote song about it.
posted by chrchr at 7:14 AM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by chrchr at 7:14 AM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
That's what we need more of on Metafilter. Cats!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 7:16 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 7:16 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
Clever kitty!
Even cats like public transportation.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:22 AM on December 15, 2011
Even cats like public transportation.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:22 AM on December 15, 2011
That's what we need more of on Metafilter. Cats!
You know, Ruthless Bunny... actually, yes. Cats and other creatures. But especially cats. What with methane and MeTas, I've been looking out and hoping for a nickyskye post here lately.
posted by likeso at 7:26 AM on December 15, 2011
You know, Ruthless Bunny... actually, yes. Cats and other creatures. But especially cats. What with methane and MeTas, I've been looking out and hoping for a nickyskye post here lately.
posted by likeso at 7:26 AM on December 15, 2011
Tomorrow's Daily Mail: WILL FELINE FARE-DODGERS GIVE BRITAIN'S PENSIONERS CANCER?
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:30 AM on December 15, 2011 [8 favorites]
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:30 AM on December 15, 2011 [8 favorites]
I like how the bus company doesn't mind him riding along.
posted by shoesietart at 7:31 AM on December 15, 2011
posted by shoesietart at 7:31 AM on December 15, 2011
Tabby cats are great: they have such attitude. Dodger looks like great fun, his advanced age notwithstanding.
As an added bonus, the article links to Best Pet Costumes for Christmas!
posted by orrnyereg at 7:41 AM on December 15, 2011
As an added bonus, the article links to Best Pet Costumes for Christmas!
posted by orrnyereg at 7:41 AM on December 15, 2011
Are people in Britain (and people in past decades) just less likely to be allergic, or less likely to be litigious, or less likely to complain, or just better people, or what?
What I'm getting at is:
Why is the idea of a happy, friendly cat hanging out in a public place ALMOST INCONCEIVABLE in modern America, yet in other places and times, it is embraced?
posted by General Tonic at 7:41 AM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
What I'm getting at is:
Why is the idea of a happy, friendly cat hanging out in a public place ALMOST INCONCEIVABLE in modern America, yet in other places and times, it is embraced?
posted by General Tonic at 7:41 AM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
Speaking as an American who's been living in England for over four years now, I think it's because the British have a higher tolerance for life's little eccentricities and weirdnesses than we do.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:45 AM on December 15, 2011 [9 favorites]
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:45 AM on December 15, 2011 [9 favorites]
So much so that we frequently elect them.
posted by Abiezer at 7:47 AM on December 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by Abiezer at 7:47 AM on December 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
The fuck? No RICK jokes? It's like you people don't even care anymore.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 8:11 AM on December 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by villanelles at dawn at 8:11 AM on December 15, 2011 [3 favorites]
This reminds me of Oscar, the cat who liked to attend public meetings.[...]"Oh, you want Oscar? Well, let's see, today's Tuesday, so he went to the Lady's Auxiliary at St. Mary's this morning and tonight he'll be at the dress rehearsal for Pirates of Penzance. What's this afternoon - oh yes, the Girl Guides are at the town hall. He'll be there."
Oh, man, you've just reminded me of a "public cat" that was around at a time when I really needed it...he was sort of the "kitchen cat" at this fancy-pants restaurant where a show I was working on was rehearsing -- an opera company that did this one-night "revue" as a benefit. The director of the show was a real harridan, and was always locking horns with the restaurant manager, and both of them were trying to get at each other through me. But the restaurant had a cat on premises, a big orange fluffy thing, and this cat was a fantastic cuddler; the second you picked him up he would happily burrow his nose into the crook of your neck and melt into your arms and just stay there, purring happily as long as you wanted to hold him. There were a couple rehearsals where I'd just go find the cat and carry him around with me for a while like I was a kid with a teddy bear.
But the best moment came when we were rehearsing one guy's song -- this big grand-opera aria from the show The Ghosts of Versailles. The restaurant was in this huge loft space that had balconies overlooking the man hall, with seating on the balconies and a grand staircase leading to the main floor; the guy was supposed to start his song from the balconies, make his way to the staircase, and slowly descend, singing grandly, finishing up his song at the base of the stairs in the middle of the floor. So one day when he rehearsed it, the rest of us gathered in a clump at the base of the stairs, so we'd be "front and center" for where he'd finish.
And just before he started, the cat came strolling out from whatever back room he'd been in, walked over to where we were, and then sat right bang directly in front and watched with the rest of us. The guy noticed by the time he was coming down the stairs, and so of course he started playing to the cat, who continued to watch, nonplussed. He finished the song kneeling on the floor directly in front of the cat, finishing with a sweeping bow -- and when he was done, the cat just sniffed him a second, then shook himself and walked out again. It was fantastic.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:13 AM on December 15, 2011 [19 favorites]
Oh, man, you've just reminded me of a "public cat" that was around at a time when I really needed it...he was sort of the "kitchen cat" at this fancy-pants restaurant where a show I was working on was rehearsing -- an opera company that did this one-night "revue" as a benefit. The director of the show was a real harridan, and was always locking horns with the restaurant manager, and both of them were trying to get at each other through me. But the restaurant had a cat on premises, a big orange fluffy thing, and this cat was a fantastic cuddler; the second you picked him up he would happily burrow his nose into the crook of your neck and melt into your arms and just stay there, purring happily as long as you wanted to hold him. There were a couple rehearsals where I'd just go find the cat and carry him around with me for a while like I was a kid with a teddy bear.
But the best moment came when we were rehearsing one guy's song -- this big grand-opera aria from the show The Ghosts of Versailles. The restaurant was in this huge loft space that had balconies overlooking the man hall, with seating on the balconies and a grand staircase leading to the main floor; the guy was supposed to start his song from the balconies, make his way to the staircase, and slowly descend, singing grandly, finishing up his song at the base of the stairs in the middle of the floor. So one day when he rehearsed it, the rest of us gathered in a clump at the base of the stairs, so we'd be "front and center" for where he'd finish.
And just before he started, the cat came strolling out from whatever back room he'd been in, walked over to where we were, and then sat right bang directly in front and watched with the rest of us. The guy noticed by the time he was coming down the stairs, and so of course he started playing to the cat, who continued to watch, nonplussed. He finished the song kneeling on the floor directly in front of the cat, finishing with a sweeping bow -- and when he was done, the cat just sniffed him a second, then shook himself and walked out again. It was fantastic.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:13 AM on December 15, 2011 [19 favorites]
The cat that lives at the store where I get coffee likes to go lay in the middle of the sidewalk when it is sunny. Half the time people walking down the street just go around him as he sprawls there. Little kids stumble over and pet him, sometimes people remark that there is a cat sprawled in the middle of the sidewalk. The other half the time a stranger grabs him and carries him back in, indignant that he is going to run into the street and get hit by a car or otherwise mauled. While he is in the store he likes to chill out in the drop ceiling and eye the customers through a hole. Whenever I buy coffee and see him lurking up there I think "ceiling cat is watching you buy coffee"
He is a pretty awesome cat, his name is Schleb which is apparently a Yemini name.
posted by Ad hominem at 8:27 AM on December 15, 2011 [6 favorites]
He is a pretty awesome cat, his name is Schleb which is apparently a Yemini name.
posted by Ad hominem at 8:27 AM on December 15, 2011 [6 favorites]
Tomorrow's Daily Mail: WILL FELINE FARE-DODGERS GIVE BRITAIN'S PENSIONERS CANCER?
I'm not over there, but my understanding is that the Daily Mail wouldn't even make such a headline a question.
Speaking of UK vs. US, I got a spellcheck red squiggly when I copied the Telegraph's headline into the email when forwarding this story.
"Owner suprised to find cat regularly catches bus"
Is 'suprised' ever a correct spelling? I don't think so, but what's funny is that I often (incorrectly, I thought) spell it that way, and if it was used in the UK, I could blame it on picking it up reading. But I don't think it is. Is it?
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:28 AM on December 15, 2011
I'm not over there, but my understanding is that the Daily Mail wouldn't even make such a headline a question.
Speaking of UK vs. US, I got a spellcheck red squiggly when I copied the Telegraph's headline into the email when forwarding this story.
"Owner suprised to find cat regularly catches bus"
Is 'suprised' ever a correct spelling? I don't think so, but what's funny is that I often (incorrectly, I thought) spell it that way, and if it was used in the UK, I could blame it on picking it up reading. But I don't think it is. Is it?
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:28 AM on December 15, 2011
Well, it does make perfect sense to me that a cat would be an opera snob!
Great stories...
posted by Iosephus at 8:30 AM on December 15, 2011
Great stories...
posted by Iosephus at 8:30 AM on December 15, 2011
Is 'suprised' ever a correct spelling?
No, and I seem to recall an egregious 'low and behold' in the copy too. Sub-editing standards shockingly lax at The Telegraph's website.
posted by Abiezer at 8:33 AM on December 15, 2011
No, and I seem to recall an egregious 'low and behold' in the copy too. Sub-editing standards shockingly lax at The Telegraph's website.
posted by Abiezer at 8:33 AM on December 15, 2011
Thinking of the driver picking him up and bringing him back to the right stop makes me like humans a little bit more. I am also jealous because I never get to pet nice kitties on the bus.
posted by troublewithwolves at 8:41 AM on December 15, 2011
posted by troublewithwolves at 8:41 AM on December 15, 2011
I am also jealous because I never get to pet nice kitties on the bus.
I had someone throw up on me on a bus. That is a little like having a cat around....
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:46 AM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
I had someone throw up on me on a bus. That is a little like having a cat around....
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:46 AM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
That's what we need more of on Metafilter. Cats!
You know, Ruthless Bunny... actually, yes. Cats and other creatures. But especially cats. What with methane and MeTas, I've been looking out and hoping for a nickyskye post here lately.
You do realize likeso that I was 100% NON-ironic. I loves me some kitties!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:49 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
You know, Ruthless Bunny... actually, yes. Cats and other creatures. But especially cats. What with methane and MeTas, I've been looking out and hoping for a nickyskye post here lately.
You do realize likeso that I was 100% NON-ironic. I loves me some kitties!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:49 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
Cat takes regular bus rides to the fish and chips shop
posted by gyc at 9:09 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by gyc at 9:09 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
"tit-bits"? Surely tid-bits, right? Nope, tit-bits!
posted by mikoroshi at 9:15 AM on December 15, 2011
posted by mikoroshi at 9:15 AM on December 15, 2011
Tiny bunny magically improves your day.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:20 AM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Ad hominem at 9:20 AM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
This is really weak sauce isn't it? I mean, a cat that rides the bus around times? Man, it must have been a really slow news day at the TEleg prt frrgt ermf KITTY!
Dammit, I almost made it. I'll beat you next time Mr. Orange!
posted by JHarris at 9:37 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
Dammit, I almost made it. I'll beat you next time Mr. Orange!
posted by JHarris at 9:37 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
mikoroshi - I looked that up too and almost posted about it as well. tit-bit seems like a nipple but then what's a tid.
posted by shoesietart at 9:39 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by shoesietart at 9:39 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
This reminds me of the seal pup in New Zealand who recently wriggled through the cat door of someone's house and climbed up onto the couch to chill out. Apparently when the wildlife officials picked him up and tried to bring him back to the ocean, he wriggled into the front of the truck and turned on the radio. Later the next day, someone saw something that looked like a seal wriggling through their backyard but couldn't catch him. Seal pup had ideas. He should talk to this cat and learn how to ride the bus and so he could get where he was going faster.
posted by colfax at 9:43 AM on December 15, 2011 [9 favorites]
posted by colfax at 9:43 AM on December 15, 2011 [9 favorites]
I am a huge fan of both public transportation and the Los Angeles Dodgers (in fact, I write the Trolley Dodger blog about the team), so a cat named Dodger taking a bus is just the best thing ever.
For those unfamiliar, the team's name came from "Trolley Dodgers," a pejorative nickname for denizens of the Brooklyn NYC borough, due to all the trolleys running around. In fact, they used to say that nobody drove to Ebbets Field -- everybody walked from the trolley lines.
That the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles where virtually everybody now drives to the game is an irony not lost on this particular correspondent.
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:52 AM on December 15, 2011
For those unfamiliar, the team's name came from "Trolley Dodgers," a pejorative nickname for denizens of the Brooklyn NYC borough, due to all the trolleys running around. In fact, they used to say that nobody drove to Ebbets Field -- everybody walked from the trolley lines.
That the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles where virtually everybody now drives to the game is an irony not lost on this particular correspondent.
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:52 AM on December 15, 2011
Why is the idea of a happy, friendly cat hanging out in a public place ALMOST INCONCEIVABLE in modern America, yet in other places and times, it is embraced?
posted by General Tonic at 10:41 AM on December 15 [1 favorite +] [!] This is just not true. All my life I have run into store cats. Google Bodega cats. My longest memory is of the cat at Nini's corner in Harvard Square. Man would you ever get the evil eye if you wanted the magazine or newspaper he was sleeping on. He passed away years ago. This is a photo of the current cat.
posted by Gungho at 10:55 AM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by General Tonic at 10:41 AM on December 15 [1 favorite +] [!] This is just not true. All my life I have run into store cats. Google Bodega cats. My longest memory is of the cat at Nini's corner in Harvard Square. Man would you ever get the evil eye if you wanted the magazine or newspaper he was sleeping on. He passed away years ago. This is a photo of the current cat.
posted by Gungho at 10:55 AM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
Oh, and speaking of American cattitudes (sorry), there was the recent story of the famous cat in the fabled Alqonquin Hotel of NYC being kicked out of the lobby where it and its antecedents have been living for over 80 years:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45416507
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:00 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45416507
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:00 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
While visiting Bocas Del Toro, Panama, I was lucky enough to maket the acquaintance of an old dog whose name escapes me at the moment. This dog was known to all the locals because of his constant use of water taxis to get from island to island. We saw that dog everywhere, and he even rode with us on taxi or two. The water taxi drivers all loved to bring him around, and the dog just wandered from island to island.
God, I wanted to be that dog.
posted by AbnerDoon at 11:18 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
God, I wanted to be that dog.
posted by AbnerDoon at 11:18 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
Yeah there are tons of bodega cats. They are always sprawled out on stacks of never to be sold pork rinds or something. I used to think the owners brought them in to work every day and took them home every night, like cats just worked in the bodega during the day and went home to their cat spouses and kittens every night.
Speaking of trolley dodgers, the tracks are still there, mostly paved over. Or were until as recently as 20 years back. When I was a kid I was riding my bike under one of the elevated lines trying to look cool and my front wheel got caught on a trolley track and I fell over in the street, that sucked.
posted by Ad hominem at 11:21 AM on December 15, 2011
Speaking of trolley dodgers, the tracks are still there, mostly paved over. Or were until as recently as 20 years back. When I was a kid I was riding my bike under one of the elevated lines trying to look cool and my front wheel got caught on a trolley track and I fell over in the street, that sucked.
posted by Ad hominem at 11:21 AM on December 15, 2011
Down in Plymouth (the original) another bus taking cat came to a sad end when he was run over, the poor little love.
And Moscow of course has its metro using stray dogs.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:12 PM on December 15, 2011
And Moscow of course has its metro using stray dogs.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:12 PM on December 15, 2011
TAEK ME ON TEH JOURNIES!
posted by tumid dahlia at 3:06 PM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by tumid dahlia at 3:06 PM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]
This reminds me of the seal pup in New Zealand who recently wriggled through the cat door of someone's house and climbed up onto the couch to chill out.
And now this: Red panda becomes surprise house guest in China
posted by homunculus at 12:42 PM on December 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
And now this: Red panda becomes surprise house guest in China
posted by homunculus at 12:42 PM on December 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
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