14 January, Review: Felix the Railway Cat

Felix the Railway Cat By Kate Moore, Penguin 2017

Why did I pick this book up? I think it may have been the Huddersfield connection; the story unfolds at Huddersfield Railway station in Yorkshire where I have awaited my connection more than once when visiting family, though I haven’t been introduced to Felix. The last time we were there the weather was telling us to seek shelter, not feline friends. No doubt Felix was warm and snug inside.

This book tells how Felix ‘became the heart of a community’ but the community was there from the start and was drawn closer together by having a station cat. A great deal of preparation and skullduggery went into acquiring a cat. The station manager did not approve but his boss gave the go-ahead when he was seconded elsewhere and he returned to find a fluffy black-and-white kitten in residence, named Felix by vote among the whole station team. We read of adventures and misadventures, of the vet’s discovery that Felix was not a tom cat, but nobody supported changing her name to Felicity. It’s a charming story, well told.

But this is not just about Felix, Rodent Control Officer, nor even the many other duties she undertook, such as reassuring stressed passengers. It is also about the community at the station, staffed 24 hours per day, sometimes working alone, sometimes coming together, but always a team, built up by senior staff looking out for each other and their subordinates, but most importantly, taking care of passengers.

Read this book and you will understand that these railway men and women are dedicated to their passengers and would not lightly be striking and putting services at risk. It is not they who are ‘holding the country to ransom’.

Felix shares her Facebook page with her junior deputy, Bolt. The two of them share further adventures in ‘Full Steam Ahead, Felix’ also by Kate Moore.

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24 October, May we find Christ walking with us: I, On the (iron) road.

 

 

This phrase from one of Friar Chris’s bidding prayers stayed with me. He had been preaching on the disciples on the way to Emmaus, but my mind switched to everyday scenes. Christ is walking with us, if we care to open our eyes.

You can find Fr Chris’s homily from this link: Chris.s.emmaus.2017

Every week I travel by train and have time to observe the esprit de corps among the railway workers. Thanks to computerised rosters, two men or women may not work together very often, but still they have to rely on each other. Day by day I hear the same affectionate banter that you can discern in Jesus’ calling Peter ‘the Rock’, or James and John his ‘Sons of Thunder’.

There are greetings for regular travellers, often by name. ‘Morning Will!’ It has been known for news of my son to reach me through his railwayman friend rather than direct from the horse’s mouth.

It’s impressive to see how railway people take care of disabled travellers. Ramps for wheelchairs, an arm for a blind traveller, escorts for a frail old person between platforms or to the taxi rank.

I know I’ve made these points before, but they are worth repeating. And there are other traveller’s joys to be had from the cheerful chap in the motorway toll booth, the staff in the café or the transport enthusiast bursting to share his customised car with the people at the next table. Let’s open our eyes, open our ears and open our hearts to the Christ we do not at first recognise.