STREET CAT BOB-FULNESS

INTERNATIONAL: STREET PAPER IMPACT

FORGET MINDFULNESS — THIS IS BOBFULNESS

Former Big Issue vendor James Bowen was lost and alone until a stray ginger cat called Bob sauntered into his life. A clutch of bestselling books and a blockbuster film later, James talks us through the five vital lessons Bob has given him. They're 'Pawsitively' inspirational. Interview by Adrian Lobb, INSP.ngo

1. WE SHOULDN'T BE AFRAID OF ASKING FOR HELP

Bob has taught me so much about the power of friendship, that we are stronger when we help each other I was a textbook teenage tearaway. For a decade after returning to England from Australia, where’d I’d spent most of my youth, I lived a pretty chaotic life, addicted to heroin and sleeping rough on the streets of London. When you lead this sort of life, a sort of ‘me against the world’ mentality sets in, especially if you are headstrong like I was. You live inside your own bubble, driven by the simple, overwhelming goal of surviving from one day to the next. It also breeds mistrust, paranoia in some instances. It’s a big mistake because there is so much help out there. And we all stand a better chance of surviving in life when we accept help and draw on other people. It took me a long time to realize this. I was often too proud, too stubborn perhaps, to ask for help from the various drug and homeless charities that offered me support. Even if I did accept their help, I’d abuse it by misbehaving or failing to stick to the programs they put me on. Bob changed that. When I found him injured he needed my help. I didn’t realize it then, of course, he was offering it to me too. By working together, we found new strength and were able to rebuild our lives. Today, if anyone asks me advice on dealing with any kind of problem, whether it is homelessness or drug addiction, my number-one tip is that — ask for help. Because we can’t do it on our own. We are all stronger together. I really do wish I’d realised that sooner.

2. THERE'S A JOY TO SHARING

Another inevitable side effect of being homeless and an addict is that you become selfish. Your goal is looking after number one. It has to be. No one else is going to do it. Since Bob came into my life, however, I’ve learned about responsibility and caring for another creature. But I’ve also — crucially — come to appreciate the joy of sharing. When you start sharing your life with someone else you appreciate the pleasure it brings. Whether it’s eating a meal together, sitting in front of the TV or going for a walk, it’s a more satisfying experience if you have a companion. That’s certainly been the case in recent years, when — with Bob — I’ve had some amazing experiences, traveling the UK and beyond, signing books and attending events. I particularly enjoy it when I know Bob is enjoying himself too. They say a problem shared is a problem halved. By the same token I think good fortune shared is good fortune doubled.

3. NONE OF OUR PROBLEMS ARE UNIQUE

It took a trip to Japan with Bob to teach me a particularly important lesson. I’d gone for the premiere of the movie based on my book, A Street Cat Named Bob, and had — as I wrote in The Big Issue — met some vendors selling the Japanese version of this magazine. To my amazement and delight two of them had had experiences with cats. They both described the difference it had made to their lives. They told me how without their cats they’d been ignored, shunned even, by the world. It was as if they were invisible. With a cat at their side, however, that all changed. Suddenly people had time for them. They had an identity. It was a precise mirror of what happened to me when I met Bob. Hearing these men talk had a massive impact on me. For many years, especially when I was young and homeless, I imagined that my circumstances were absolutely unique. That there was no one else in the world that was burdened with the same problems as me. I wish I’d known back then that I was far from unusual. Life might not have been any different in a material sense, but at least I would not have felt so terribly alone.

One of the things that I most admire about Bob is that he’s nonjudgmental. He doesn’t decide to like someone because of the clothes they wear or the car they drive. He isn’t impressed by expensive jewellery or even a posh accent. He makes his decision based on how he senses that person is going to treat him, whether or not they are going to be kind or not. We’re all guilty of being judgmental. I’ve seen both sides of this. When I was selling The Big Issue and — before that — living rough on the streets, people used to see me and make their minds up within seconds. I could see it in their eyes. They wrote me off as a waste of space, someone not worth the bother. I was little better sometimes. Occasionally I’d meet someone else on the streets — a fellow vendor or rough sleeper perhaps — and write them off. I did the same with outreach workers sometimes, dismiss them for trying to change me, to force me to mend my ways. I’ve tried to avoid doing that since I turned my life around. I’ve tried to follow Bob’s example and give everyone a chance. I don’t always get it right of course. We all get people wrong. But even if I do make a mistake — for instance by trusting someone who later lets me down — I can at least feel safe in the knowledge that I gave them a fair crack of the whip, that I didn’t rush to judgment. It’s an important change of attitude that — again — I wish I’d made in my life, ‘pre-Bob’.

5. THERE'S GOOD IN THE EVERYDAY

During my darkest times on the street it was often hard to see the positives in life. Most days were an unrelenting grind, a battle to just make it through unscathed. Survival was the one positive really. But when I started busking and selling The Big Issue around London Bob taught me to view life differently. Some days I’d watch him, basking in a spell of sunshine or simply sitting there watching the world go by and I’d realise he was relishing that moment. Forget mindfulness, it was Bobfulness. He was ‘in the moment’. It wasn’t much, but whatever it was he was taking pleasure from it. I tried to learn from that. Rather than dwelling on the bad I began to teach myself to appreciate the good in each day. It was always there if you looked hard enough. It might just be glorious weather or a particularly beautiful sky. It might be a random act of kindness that I experienced or a conversation with someone who genuinely seemed to be interested in me and my welfare. Whatever it was it was to be celebrated. It became a new mindset. One that I didn’t really have when I was a younger and – unfortunately – angrier person. There’s good in the everyday. Again, I wish I’d known and appreciated that sooner.

The Little Book of Bob: Life Lessons from a Streetwise Cat by James Bowen is out now. With thanks to Garry Jenkins

FORMER BUSKER JAMES TELLS US ABOUT TWO BRAND NEW SONGS HE'S RELEASING TO RAISE MONEY FOR THE BIG ISSUE FOUNDATION

Tell us about the new single, James.

‘Time To Move On’ is a song about sleeping rough. I wrote it with Henry Facey, who is my guitarist. He is a busker, so I’ve been out with him a few times and we were playing around Covent Garden in central London when we wrote it. I’m very proud of the song. It has come out so beautifully. The police always say, ‘Time to move on’ and kick people out of doorways, so this is a very personal song. You can hear that, right to the last line, about walking through the night until the dawn when you can sleep safely. I am so proud of it.

Where did you record it?

That song was recorded at Metway Studios in Brighton, which belongs to the Levellers. It was mastered at Abbey Road, which was a dream come true — The Beatles are one of my big influences, from them to Arctic Monkeys and Bob Dylan. He gets everywhere. I’m so excited to put the song out there. I think it is very catchy.

And the other release?

‘And Then Came Bob’ is more of a feel good Christmas song. I recorded that one with Dominic Ferris at his studio. He is a world-famous pianist who travels the world playing music. His mum actually wrote the lyrics, I added the vocals, and we brought Dominic in to play keyboards and produce the song. There’s a local Brighton school choir on it who sound very good.

Where can we buy the songs?

You can get them on iTunes and Amazon. And obviously it will be downloadable from our website. I just hope people like it and I hope people enjoy the music and also enjoy the message of it. Watch this space because we are looking to make an album soon!

What an exciting way to end the year!

Yes! And the film is currently number three at the box office in China — that market is really hard to break. So that has been a brilliant surprise. It just goes to show that Bob really is the most famous cat in the world, doesn’t it?

Courtesy of INSP.ngo / The Big Issue UK bigissue.com @BigIssue