Sam- The Land Rover Cat
We were on a Land Rover pick in Victoria about 4 years ago now and came home with more than what we bargained for!
The trip started off as a routine Land Rover pick. We were en-route to inspect a Series 2a we called the 'Smurf'. A Land Rover that had a real point of difference. Prior to the farmer that was selling it to us, it belonged to a BP service station and back in the day the "Smurf' provided a captivating image catching the attention of motorists and their families, and causing line-ups at gas stations!
We arrived at the farmers front gate and before we had even laid eyes upon the 'Smurf' up came this big fluff ball of a cat. He had short legs and a big round face and reminded me of the famous cartoon cat Garfield as he waddled up to us..
He came up to us, rubbed himself all over my legs, purring and then all of a sudden flopped down and laid flat out on his back with his tummy in the air ....... obviously wanting a scratch.
I said to the farmer " Wow what a beautiful cat!" and the farmer was quick to reply "He is yours, you can have him if you want"........ I thought he was joking........he was NOT!
What was meant to be a quick, no fuss, easy pick up turned into one of the longest, funniest mornings I have had in a long time.
As we walked down to inspect the Land Rover we soon realised that we had a small shadow following us.
Before we knew it the farmer and his wife were making preparations for our newly found friend to be worked into the deal with the Land Rover. What entailed was an extremely amusing back and forth on whether or not this chilled out feline would be accompanying Dave and I back to the Land Rover Heaven Headquarters, the farmer and wife seemed to have already made their minds up and were gathering the cats belongings, we on the other hand were not so sure.
It was a big responsibility and it all seemed to be moving just a bit to fast for us. Just as we were on the verge of putting an end to the madness that had ensued (keeping in mind this whole time we had barely looked at what we came for... The Land Rover) the little fluff ball who was named Sam jumped into our truck and made himself comfortable. He seemed to make everyones minds up on his own accord and put an end to the matter. It was simple to Sam 'You are buying the Land Rover and taking me with you'.
Since then Sam has been an integral part of the Land Rover Heaven outfit and an endless source of comfort and love for our family. To this day it seems that it was Sam who chose us and instead of walking away with just an amazing Land Rover we found a new member of the Land Rover Heaven family as well.
To this day you will find Sam lounging in what you can only imagine to be the most comfortable positions a cat could find themselves in. It's almost as if he turns himself into a puddle and then when finished has to reconstruct himself again. It is endless amusement for us and it is something we will never tire of witnessing.
