By Elliott West
“She’s breaking down barriers by making people smile and starting cheerful conversations between staff and customers – helping our team and our tenants at the station feel part of the local community, which is rewarding for everyone.”
Shaun Smith, Great Northern Station Manager.
Introduction
If you go down to Stevenage station today, you are in for a big surprise. A ginger cat called Nala, who wears a GPS tracking device on her collar, can often be seen sitting on top of the gate array in the station or curled up in the Metro newspaper bin outside in the station corridor. A welcome distraction to the daily commute. Three-year-old Nala who has a loving home close to the station, can often be spotted walking around the retail park or the Old Town and even spent a night in the cinema. A cat who loves the outdoors but who is highly affectionate. Eager to stop what she is doing for a stroke and some attention from a happy passerby, a local cat whom the Stevenage community have welcomed into their hearts.
This local sensation is now a social media star with many users posting pictures of Nala where they have crossed paths. I spotted her three times in the last few weeks. Once perching on the gates, slumbering in the Metro bin and appearing just before the station was due to open in the morning. It was as if she knew it was four o’clock and greeted the Station Supervisor as he raised the electric shutters. Swishing her tail in the air and fluffing up her fur, she often produces a rhythmic put when a welcome hand comes to stroke her.
The Kindred Pet
In my 22 years at London Underground, I have come across a few animals that needed to be rescued, a fox a swan and even a ferret who needed a call to the RPCA to be collected. That excludes the tiny mice that dance across the platforms and scuttle into the many nooks and crannies that exist on the underground network. So it is rare to see a cat that turns up for the fun of it, spends some time observing and then goes home. A fluffy ball of joy whose owner was subjected to a mountain of phone calls when Stevenage residents thought Nala was lost. Now that doesn’t happens, thanks to the owner putting a second tag on her collar, saying she is not lost.
Nala hasn’t yet had the inclination to board a train to Cambridge, Peterborough or King’s Cross. They don’t do tickets for cats anyway. Her paws remain firmly on the other side of the gate array. Therapeutic and loving, Nala is a true Stevenage gem and someone who this Hertfordshire community should be very proud of. Cats in the home or outside are always a pleasure and as a cat lover myself, I can never resist giving a cat a stroke and a cuddle. This cat is so friendly and doesn’t seem to have a care in the world. A feline who achieves her daily count of cat steps and has no need for public transport. Whether patrolling the A1M underpass or walking past the number of restaurants in the local retail park, she walks the ground that E.M. Forster, Leslie Phillips, Denholm Elliott and Lewis Hamilton once walked. A cat with many lives and a joy to come across.
