Fun_People Archive
5 Apr
Cat Flaps?

Date: Wed,  5 Apr 95 11:53:18 PDT
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: Cat Flaps?

Forwarded-by: bostic@CS.Berkeley.EDU (Keith Bostic)
Forwarded-by: Jim Thompson <jim@Tadpole.COM>
Forwarded-by: Dan Bornstein <danfuzz@milk.com>
Forwarded-by: dmc@cam.sri.com (David Carter)

Who says Germans have no sense of humour? The following is from the
Big Issue:

"One of the primary reasons cat flaps are called cat flaps is that
they're flaps specifically designed for cats, as opposed to dogs, or
giraffes, or humans. All of this became abundantly clear to teenager
Jason Evans, of Eastleigh, Hampshire, when he recently spent six hours
stuck in one after using it in an attempt to get into his house. He
was eventually cut free by firemen. In Germany, meanwhile, Gunther
Burpus remained wedged in his front-door cat flap for two days because
passers-by thought he was a piece of installation art. Mr Burpus, 41,
of Bremen, was using the flap because he had mislaid his keys.
Unfortunately he was spotted by a group of student pranksters who
removed his trousers and pants, painted his bottom bright blue, stuck
a daffodil between his buttocks and erected a sign saying 'Germany
Resurgent, an Essay in Street Art. Please give Generously'. Passers-by
assumed Mr Burpus' screams were part of the act and it was only when
an old woman complained to the police that he was finally freed. "I
kept calling for help," he said, "but people just said 'Very good!
Very clever!' and threw coins at me." "

© 1995 Peter Langston