dispatch from the cat cafe

Which is weirdly a very good place to write. This is my current view…

I have a green tea latte and the cats roam about like small furry Gods or very well groomed emperors. It’s is a bit like what the world would be if it were ruled by cats. I think we can all agree this guy would be pimp-daddy of the Korea cat nation (yes, it’s a bowtie). 

So today I tried to go to a museum but ended up at the wrong subway station, and then I ended up at a zoo and thought, fuck it, why not? Which is how I then ended up, feet dangling, on the last cable car of the night as the sun set behind the mountains. 

This is how I often travel and source material. I walk where my feet take me, act on my normal curiosity which is amplified when I’m away somewhere where I know nothing and want to discover everything. That natural curiosity leads me places…to a strange yoga class, a cat cafe, a zoo, a cable car and as I go I pick small shiny details, make connections and assumptions in my head, write tiny stories that will become part of a far bigger story. I’m not explaining myself well here. I did it much better on my post about the entwined nature of travel and writing for Jonathan of Bookseller Crow here.

Anyway, my favourite animal sighting of today wasn’t the lions or giraffes. It was this magpie. For obvious reasons I think.

Also here is a Buzzfeed of writers with their cats. Also Novelicious are doing a Scottish themed Tony Hogan giveaway to encourage people to VOTE for the Scottish Book Awards.

Ok. I’m off to pet a small furry God.