Casper The Commuting Cat: The True Story Of The Cat Who Rode The Bus And Stole Our Hearts

As Casper’s travels were being read about all over Plymouth and online across the globe, he was also grabbing the attention of Fleet Street. National newspapers were picking up on the story, and it had even been noticed by the Press Association, who sell articles to pretty much every media outlet. I, of course, knew nothing about this side of things – yet. The day passed in a bit of a blur. I spent the day answering calls and emails from friends and family about Casper, and I read the story to him again. He showed very little interest the second time round too; I suppose he already knew it all first-hand. I gave him an extra cuddle that night for being such a good boy while all of this was going on around him. When I settled him in for the evening, I whispered, ‘There you go, Cassie, that’s all the excitement over. You can just go back to your normal little trips now you’ve had your five minutes of fame.’

Who would have known how naive my words were? You’d think I’d have learned by now, but as I went to bed that evening, I had no idea what we were both in for the next day.

CHAPTER 17

Casper Goes Global

‘Our Casper story goes worldwide!’ screamed the Plymouth Herald the next day – and it was true. The story had exploded.

Casper the commuting cat became a worldwide celebrity within hours of appearing in The Herald

. We yesterday reported how the carefree feline regularly travels around town on First’s number 3 bus from his Barne Barton home. Having proved a hit with drivers and passengers, Casper’s story has captured the attention of media far and wide. The headlines came thick and fast as the Plymouth puss featured on websites from England’s tabloids to the USA’s mystate-line.com. The Sun declared that ‘Stowaway Cat gets busted’, while The Press Association went with ‘Joyrider Casper given a puss pass’. Teletext merely stated: ‘Cat enjoys free bus rides’. He also appeared on a diverse range of other websites including Yahoo, Virgin Media, The Sheffield Telegraph, Bury Free Press and thisislancashire.

I did a quick search and found the story on the BBC website, the Daily Telegraph

, and the Daily Mail – they had all picked up on what Edd had written and put their own twist on it. Some papers had even covered the tale in their editorial columns, usually with excruciating puns. They were all very positive and kindly disposed towards Casper’s hobby, and I felt as if he were being taken to the hearts of the nation. People from the four corners of the world commented on online versions of the story. The story was taking on huge proportions.

The response that day was incredible, but it was nothing compared to a few days later, when he appeared in newspapers and websites in Holland, Australia, India, China and South Africa. A newspaper in New York said:

Not all pets prefer to travel by foot – some find taking public transportation a better way to get around. In the English city of Plymouth, 12-year-old Casper the cat has been surprising his fellow commuters by riding the bus by himself.

No one was more surprised by all of this than me.

By the end of the day after Edd had published his first article, I felt like I was living in the middle of a whirlwind. I almost expected a public relations guru to call, offering to represent Britain’s newest star. My address was very easy to find because of the mention in the paper, and my telephone number quite simple to get too. As a result, the phone never stopped ringing. I found myself agreeing to all sorts of people coming to meet Casper for more interviews and filming. I was doing what I had done all along, which was to agree to things for an easy life. I’d had such a positive experience with Edd that I became less wary of dealing with journalists. Thankfully, I never had this positivity challenged, and everyone who has dealt with Casper’s story from beginning to end has been a delight.