Since Bob seemed keen to accompany James to work, he constructed a harness from shoelaces and began to bring him along to his regular spots in Covent Garden and Piccadilly, travelling in the window seat of the number 73 bus. Concerned that the cat had nowhere else to go, James took him in on a permanent basis, naming him Bob after a character from the television drama Twin Peaks. Instead, he began to follow James around, even following him onto the bus when he left to go busking. When he couldn’t find any information, he released the cat back on to the street, hoping he’d find his own way home. In order to make sure he received the full two-week course of medication, James decided to take him in for a time while he continued to look for the stray’s owner. He took the cat to a nearby veterinary surgery run by an animal charity, which provided antibiotics to treat the infected wound. James checked with other residents to see if the stray belonged to any of them, and when none of them claimed ownership of the animal James decided to help the cat himself. When the cat was still there the following day, and the day after that, James became concerned and discovered the cat was wearing no collar or ID tag, and had an infected wound on his leg. One evening he returned home to find a ginger cat in the hallway of his building assuming it belonged to another resident, he simply returned to his flat.

In Spring 2007, James was enrolled on a methadone programme, busking in Covent Garden, and living in sheltered accommodation in Tottenham. From this point, James spent almost 10 years either sleeping rough or staying briefly in charity-run shelters it was during this time that he began to use heroin in an attempt to escape the realities of homelessness. In 1997 he returned to the UK and lived with his half-sister, but this arrangement did not last in time, he became homeless and began sleeping on the streets. He was frequently bullied, and began sniffing glue while still in education, becoming a self-confessed “tearaway kid” who would later be diagnosed with ADHD, schizophrenia and manic depression. Home life was tense and, because the family moved frequently, James was unsettled at school. Following his parents’ divorce, he moved to Australia with his mother and stepfather. He is author of A Street Cat Named Bob, which tells his life story. James Bowen is an author and musician currently based in London. Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

The world according to bob james bowen