So, for now at least, the railway was where Felix would stay, continuing to touch hearts all around the world. Reflecting on the past few years, it was incredible how many people she had helped – and not just people like Gloria and Eva, who had relied on her special support at difficult personal times. Countless people had experienced audiences with the station cat that weren’t necessarily big news, but which they would never forget. Such as the eighty-year-old lady whose daughter surprised her on her birthday with a visit to see Felix. The grey-haired lady sat in her wheelchair and Felix snuggled into her lap for a long old cuddle. The woman had seemed lost in the moment as her fingers softly stroked that world-famous fluffy fur.
‘Thank you so much for this,’ she said eventually, eyes shining with pleasure. ‘This is the best birthday present I could ever have had.’
As the year drew to its close, Angie Hunte received the best present she could ever have. It happened one wintry afternoon as she was wandering around the back offices hunting for Bolt. Now given the run of the place – except for the ladies’ locker room, which remained Felix’s domain (plus, he was a boy, so was naturally forbidden entry) – he had developed a habit of disappearing, playing his own game of hide-and-seek that the team didn’t even know they were involved in, until they looked around and realised he had vanished.
‘Bolt!’ called Angie now, as she checked his usual favourite places. But he wasn’t behind the disused doorstop or snoozing in the shower room. ‘Oh, Bolt!’
Angie’s searches took her down the long corridor, until she came to a stop outside Andy Croughan’s office. The door was ajar but the lights were off, as Andy was out and about. In his absence, a little cat had taken his chance to curl up on the comfy padded chairs facing the manager’s desk, hoping for a sneaky catnap. Angie smiled to see him there, watching him through the glass of the window in the door.
Wanting to see more clearly, Angie pushed the door open wider. ‘Oh my goodness,’ she whispered, as the room came fully into view.
The sight that greeted her eyes was one that she had long dreamed of. For there wasn’t just one cat curled up on the chairs. Facing Bolt, on her own chair, was Felix the railway cat. The two pest controllers were only inches away from each other, their faces turned towards their mirror moggy. Felix’s tail was floating happily up and down, as though they were both stretched out on loungers in the sunshine and she was keeping them cool, fanning both herself and him with a massive fluffy palm leaf.
For once, Bolt wasn’t watching that slowly flicking tail. He had eyes only for Felix’s emerald-green ones. There was a calm, companionable spirit about the scene, as the two cats shared the close space they had carved out for one another. They gazed almost lovingly into each other’s eyes. There was no pouncing or prodding, just a lovely silence as they sat side by side and cheerfully chilled out.
Huddersfield’s pest controllers – both senior and junior – had, in the end, passed their probation with flying colours. Watching them, Angie could no longer imagine one without the other.
Carefully, so as not to disturb the animals, she slipped her phone out of her pocket and snapped a quick picture. It was funny, she thought, that they had chosen to present their partnership in the station manager’s office. It was a coup of sorts, as the cats joined forces at last.
So, as she texted Andy Croughan the picture, she added a single, short caption. When he opened it up and saw the picture of the cats in his office – the two pussies all the more powerful for being a pair – he read Angie’s words with an amused smile.
She had written, ‘And you think you’re the boss!’
But everyone already knew that was really Bolt and Felix.
1. Felix at home on platform one
2. Angie Hunte (left) and Angela Dunn (right), two of Felix’s oldest friends
3. Felix ‘helping’ the Friends of Huddersfield Station with their gardening
4. Mark’s unwieldy globe and a nonplussed Felix
5. One of Her Highness’s favourite spots …
6. … and another
7. The professional portrait of Felix, painted by Rob Martin
8. Felix has always known how to work the camera …
9. … from iPhones to the paparazzi
10. Another special friend, Sara, turning treat time into playtime
11. Sitting with an absent friend on Billy Bolt’s memorial bench
12. Angela treated Felix to a snuggly radiator bed …
13. … which soon became the best place for a cat nap …
14. … and is where she met Gloria, the Bucket List Lady
15. A very happy Eva after finally meeting Felix for the first time
16. There’s no Dreamie too big for Felix
17. There’s no box too small for Felix
18. The new kid on the block trying and failing to blend in
19. Bolt and Jacqui having a cuddle
20. In the end, it wasn’t long before the two furry felines became firm friends
Acknowledgements
As with Felix’s first book, Full Steam Ahead, Felix would have been impossible to write without the fantastic contribution of the team at Huddersfield station. I’d like to thank Angela Dunn in particular, who gave up hours of her own time to escort me and Felix to the vet’s and the groomer’s, and who patiently answered every question under the sun about the ins and outs of Felix’s life. Similarly, Angie Hunte, storyteller extraordinaire, made an invaluable contribution to this book. Ladies, as ever, it’s been a pleasure.
Thanks are also due to all those at the station and at TPE who gave interviews, including Sara, Dan, Amanda, Chrissie, David, Jacqui, Reece, Liz, Geoff, Paul Ralphson, Carl Haigh, Geraldine Smith, Chris Bamford, Jack Kempf, Andrew McClements, Jean Randall, Dale Woodward, Dave Chin and not forgetting the station manager, Andy Croughan. Thanks too to Felix’s vet and to her groomer, Louise, for allowing me to accompany Felix to her appointments.
As Felix’s fame has spread, so too has that circle of people who have stories to share about her. Thank you to Adam Taylor, Peter, David, Alwen and the Friends of Huddersfield Station; to Jez Walsh and Bob Morse from the Men’s Shed; to Amanda and Sarah from the Huddersfield branch of Waterstones; and to Christine Spicer, Rob Martin, Susie Beever, Julie Swift, John Cran, Pam Burgess, Gloria Lewis and Helen and Eva Lear for all generously granting me interviews about their interactions with Felix.
For Felix’s second book, many members of the public got in touch to share their own Felix stories, including but not limited to: Stuart Gelder, Elaine Carter, Daniel Goodrich, Gisela Kratochwil, Kathryn Haynes, Jennifer Adele Berry, Emma Gee, Rosemary Dayborn, Janis Phillips, Margaret Willerton, Alyson Meadowcroft, Tracey Kennedy, Barbara Blackie, Stephen Hack, Janet Goldsmith, Jan Norman, Judy Stock and John Rooney. It was a true pleasure hearing from you all about the difference Felix has made to your lives and the adventures she has had with you. Thank you to everyone who submitted stories, even though we did not have room to include or acknowledge them all.