A bit about the story behind the Cat…
A funny thing happened to me as a result of lockdown. A dormant passion was awakened – my desire to see the world!
2020 was finally going to be my year – a year of adventures. My husband and I had decided that after I’d recovered we would get out there, see the sights, have experiences. But then, suddenly, just as I was emerging from the shadow of surgery, lockdown happened. I was gutted. I’d already been pretty much in isolation for months. The thought of another spell, even for just a few weeks, threatened to tip me over the edge! At the same time, my husband’s brother, A GP on the front line, had already been diagnosed with Covid-19 and we were really worried. Chris had set up remote working facilities for the staff at his place of work but his job was such that he still had to go in. Fear and frustration hovered over us like a storm cloud. I had to do something. And so it began…
Well, to be more accurate, it started the week before lockdown really as a way to cheer up Chris and distract him from everything that was going on. Doing things to lift his spirits gave me something positive to focus on and made the four walls that had begun inching towards me start to back off a little.
So, one night, he came home to find Monique, a french waitress, at the door. She welcomed him in French; she didn’t speak much English as it turned out. He could hear the sound of an accordion playing somewhere. Monique took his coat and ushered him through a door with a sign saying ‘Chez Josephine’. As he was seated at the table, candles flickering, she offered him a leather-bound menu. There was the soft fragrance of fresh flowers and views of the Tuileries Gardens from the windows. In the distance, he could see the Eiffel Tower and on one of the cornices of the bistro he noticed a replica of a gargoyle from Notre Dame. So this was Paris!
He ordered a five-course meal for them both, which they polished off hungrily, finishing up with brioche and coffee. After dinner, they danced in the candlelight to the strains of the accordion, then headed off to The Louvre Museum for a tour. It was very late and they had the place to themselves. He was a little amazed that a waitress could pull such strings! They explored the medieval spaces below the museum and meandered around the Eqyptian exhibition, getting lost again and again. It was a bit eerie seeing the usually packed museum empty but fun too trying to outstare the sphynxes and attempting to decipher the hieroglyphs. There was no time to see the Mona Lisa, however, as the phone rang and just like that we were back in the real world again.
Of course, the bistro was the dining room, the Eiffel Tower was a mechano-type model that Chris constructed one Christmas, the gargoyle was a souvenir keyring from a friend, the tour of the Louvre was an online virtual tour and the views of the Tuileries gardens were printouts from Google Images, but it didn’t matter. For those few brief hours we were able to escape from the scary realities of the world and create our own little bubble of magic.
As it turned out, that was only a taste of what was to come and a week later Chris came home to Zero Gravity with a trip to the International Space Station but that’s another story. 21 countries later, what started out as a jokey attempt to lighten the spirits has now turned into a bit of a challenge, as I plan to try and travel the entire world in the virtual realm. So that’s how Curiosity Cat was born.
Along the way, friends have joined in with their own virtual adventures too, with some amazing results and it’s been a real joy to share the experience with them, so I finally decided to put it all together, to spread the joy further afield and create a bit of light for the soul. I hope it provides some much-needed escapism, entertainment and inspiration for those who take the time to read it.
I urge you to have a go at some of the ideas and share your own experiences along the way so we can all help lighten each other’s spirits, stay connected and rekindle our love for this marvellous planet of ours.