Cats

  Letters from America

Monday 6 November 2017

Way back in May this year I did a post on the black and white cat of the McElhone stairs, who had been a much beloved local institution.  She was a well looked after street cat and spent most of her days sunning herself on the sandstone outcrop next to the historic Potts Point stairs.  Always up for friendly interactions with passersby over the years, many people became very fond of her.  In May I came to know that she had died, after 17 years living on the McElhone stairs.

There was a subscription held for a memorial and this update is to record the little plaque that was created and put on the sandstone ledge she frequented.  It’s a modest little thing.  Here it is:

Opposite the official memorial, beyond the railing to the stairs, an unofficial sketch of the black and white cat has been painted by who knows whom, and it has a charm all of its own.  It is painted onto the base of the very large ventilation pipe next to the stairs.  Here is a photo through the railing I took at night, so there are a few shadows in the picture which are cast by the support structure around the ventilation pipe:

With fondest memories of spirit animals in the urban world,

MG xx