Picture in Need of Backstory

[therealsnape]

Lord S. and I were having a quiet breakfast with tea, Nutella and the newspaper, when he suddenly looked up and said, "Now this is something to show your friends."






Translation:
Title: Rather Strange.

Which cardriver isn't familiar with the situation: the parking slot he or she wants to use - the only free slot in the entire street - is permanently reserved for a doctor, an acupuncturist, or an invalid. Highly annoying!

But in Great-Britain, things can get stranger. Hans van der Vecht found a Witch Parking in Falmouth, Cornwall. The size indicated on the sign suggests that one parks a broom rather than a car here. A joke of a passionate Potter-fan? Or an insult aimed at an old, ugly neighbour?

Those could be explanations. But the cats, whose looks could burn the soul of any passer-by, suggest other possibilities.

Leaving aside the slanderous notion that 'witch = old and ugly', what I'd like to ask the flist is, "Who are those two"?

I've googled 'tabby cat' and it seems that orange varieties are sometimes found. So that might be one answer - and then again, I might be wrong entirely.

Comments

[jean-doe-27.livejournal.com]

I am afraid to say that I would have expected to see round shapes around that eyes should that be that specific tabby, but I have no doubt that the right hand cat is a tabby.
TRS, you are blessed for shring it with us!

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

Well the town of Tinworth is in Cornwall so perhaps the two cats live there normally? I would think that Minerva's cat form would be more of the classic Tabby coloration of dark brown, black and ochre, esp since she has black hair in human form, rather than being ginger. Perhaps they're Weasley family members (from Arthur's side since there apparently are many of them!).

[pale-moonlite.livejournal.com]

They look like Ro and Will to me. Probably they're just watching Minerva's broom while she's shopping ...

[twisted-twister.livejournal.com]

The cats don't interest me; this is clearly a het story (one is male and the other female). They may belong to the Weasley clan. As far as I remember, Crookshanks is ginger, and the left one is definitly smug enough to be him.

My guesses about the owner of this parking space and cats:
1. Arabella fig (parking space saved for visiting witches).
2. Hermione's flat while in college/university.
3. Nanny Ogg's winter dwelling when it's too cold in the mountains and she wants some company in town. (Greebo is somewhere else, looking for troubles).

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

You're right. The book clearly mentions the round shapes. Not Min, then. In spite of her well-known preference for ginger (newts).

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

They might be - the colour is suggestive.

On the other hand, if Molly and Arthur had an animagus form, I'd rather think along the line of rabbits. They do procreate like them.

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

Good point. I think the left one is quite Will-like, and the right one looks as if she might jump any second - every inch the sportswomancat.

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

(one is male and the other female)
How on earth can you see that?

I thought of Crookshanks, too. And I thought of Greebo.
Could one think of Greebo and Crookshanks together? (Yes, I'm kinky).

[twisted-twister.livejournal.com]

Well... I knew there was a difference in the faces; the shape is different around the cheekbones and eyes. Now all I had to do was ask JD, who used to have cats - before my time - and who knows everything, and she confirmed that the left one with the much wider face is the male, and the right one with the slightly more delicate features is the female.

I can see how you'd see Willa in the left one, what with all the butchiness and white shirt under the ginger vest, but no, it's a male. Crookshanks. Very probable.

I can't imagine Greebo/Crookshanks without any alarming sound-effects. They'll both be on top, and if Crookshanks falls asleep afterwards he could may well wake up a bleeding tabby... I'd say Crookshanks type is more of the canine kind... someone black...

[tetleythesecond]

I think the one who looks male may be a passing cat. Or simply a very, very butch one. Either Wilhelmina or ... well ... could it be Elphinstone?

And the right one is Rolanda. Agree on that.

Also agree that they're watching Minerva's broom while she's shopping. They agree that it is much pleasanter to sit outside on a wall than to plough through about twelve dozen pairs of ankle boots.

Philistines.

[dreamy-dragon73.livejournal.com]

Hee!
The ginger one looks a bit like Hermione to me. Wouldn't want to mess with that look :)
The one with the white bits - hm, maybe a fried or colleague helping to guard the parking space?

[inamac.livejournal.com]

Well, the cats are both ginger tabbies, and therefore, probably boycats ;) I've always assumed (from the eye markings), that Minerva is a brown tabby.

Isn't Crookshanks a ginger?

Cornwall has a thriving witchcraft tourist industry (the Museum of Witchcraft is in Boscastle, not Falmouth, otherwise I'd have assumed this was the parking for the staff), so such signs are not unusual - and nothing to do with Potter.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

I like that idea. In Nordic mythology it was cats, rather than rabbits, which were regarded as particularly fecund...

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

Elphinstone! What a delicious suggestion! I'm getting fonder and fonder of Elphie.

They look rather impatient - must be wondering when Min will have done with the boots and come home for a proper coven meeting.

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. Still, I do think that Willa might go for the sturdier type of cat. And as you say, she does favour white shirts.

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

Hermione! Could well be. She's always admired McGonagall; may well have tried for the same kind of animagus shape. Wonder who the friend is, though.

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

I think Crookshanks is a ginger, yes. If they're both boys, that's a whole new set of ideas. Crookshanks and a ginger Weasley? Charlie? Good with animals, is Charlie.

I didn't know of the Cornish witch industry - but the idea of staff parking is inspired. Pity it isn't the case.

[tetleythesecond]

If it hadn't said "Cornwall" I'd have had another thought.

But I'm not even sure if garden gnomes have animagus forms. Besides, the sign would have said "Careful! Low-Flying Witches!"

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

Hahaha! I need one of those. I've always wanted my own parking space.

May I come over for breakfast, please?

[minervas-eule.livejournal.com]

Oh Kelly - what an icon :-))

I am very much in agreement with Twisted Twister about the notion that this might be Hermione's parking space during college times *gg*...the "all others will be cursed" seems such an ic thing to state ;-)

[squibstress.livejournal.com]

Reserved for an acupuncturist?

As in, "Stand back, everyone! I'm going to give CPR... er... acupuncture"?

[lash-larue.livejournal.com]

Crookshanks has a smushed face, a la persian, like dreamy_dragon73's icon.

The one with the white bib looks as if he might just kick one's ass. The smaller one on the right looks as if she is on the way over to do so.

Ergo -

The one on the left with the bib is Gilderoy.

The other is Luna Lovegood, who has at long last simply had enough of people taking her things.
L

[squibstress.livejournal.com]

Oh, and tabby is just a coat pattern, and it can be seen in almost any color. And the majority of orange (ginger) cats are male because the gene for it is on the x chromosome. Females need to have the gene from both parents in order to be born ginger, while males only need one. So the chances that the parking-space sentinels are actually witches is only around 20%.

That's not accounting for magic, however.

[albalark.livejournal.com]

*That* is a perfect, absolutely hilarious (and obviously true) idea! ::100 points to Slytherin::

[albalark.livejournal.com]

I have a small sign like this over my work area in the lab (but instead it says 'Witch Parking Only, All Others Will Be Toad'). But no accompanying sentinel cats, unfortunately. ::g:: Most Likely, based on their looks, it's Crabbe and Goyle looking out for Princess Pansy's broom.

P.S. Tell Lord S I said thanks for bringing this to your attention and thank you for sharing - it made all of us laugh here at Chez Lark!

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

Hahaha! Hilarious. Yes, that's exactly what Reg and Nigel would have said. And perhaps they would even have guarded our parking space. In the end, we got along just fine with the wee taters.

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

*Icon love!*

May I come over for breakfast, please? Isn't that what we have planned for next summer?

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

It is rather Hermione, isn't it?

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

Exactly. And the Dutch text was 'acupunctuurgoeroe' which is intentionally negative - goeroe being guru, so the mumbo-jumbo connotation is very much there. I couldn't quite render it in my translation.

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

Sounds believable to me. Luna is as kick-ass as they come, and Gilderoy would feel entitled to his own private space.

Must say that I liked Tetley's suggestion too.

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

Fascinating information - I had no idea. But I did spend part of the evening with a ginger tabby who is (or rather was) male.

But as you say, there's no accounting for magic.

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

You have a sign like this? Wicked! You're a mad scientist who definitely deserves all the support she gets.

I've passed on the message to Lord S. Seems I've missed something Chez Lark!

[fanficforensics.livejournal.com]

My previous neighbour used to have a sign like that on her garage - "Witches' parking only, all others will be toad'. Sometimes my cats sat in front of it, but they all look harmless and fluffy and kind of spaced out all the time, so the effect wasn't quite like in this clipping :) Ah, memories.

[cranky--crocus.livejournal.com]

Your icon.

*Giggles herself silly.*

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

Heh heh I was thinking of Arthur's unnamed brothers or some other Weasley cousin. :) I agree that Molly and Arthur would definitely be bunnies.

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

I have it on good authority that if Charlie were to be a animagus, his form would be a dragon. Nothing less. (To suggest otherwise is apparently blasphemous. ;))

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

I'd no idea signs like that were actually on sale! *wants*

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

My deepest apologies to Charlie. No offense was intended (and I hope none is taken).

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

Ah, Charlie's never one for bearing grudges. He just couldn't imagine ever being a cat!

[the-winterwitch.livejournal.com]

That is so totally cool! *wantz* Thank you for sharing this marvellous finding.
Do you think I can use the image for an icon? I have been in Falmouth, at least, so theoretically I could have taken the picture myself *g*.

I've googled 'tabby cat' and it seems that orange varieties are sometimes found. So that might be one answer - and then again, I might be wrong entirely.

Well, "tabby", in cat-breeding, generally refers to fur-patterns, regardless the overall colour. Just the fact that the "typical" house cat is coloured more or less like the wildcat made for using the term "tabby" as a general term for house cat in English afaik.
The term tabby is used when there is any kind of pattern on the cat, be it striped like these tow beauties, called "mackerel" (since it looks like the stripes on the fish of the same name), brindled (I'm relying on translations here, this and the following might not be the official terms), spotted, and ticked. (I find it interesting, too, that in the English wiki article, they make a distinction between classic (striped) and mackerel tabby, whereas in German catbreeding this isn't made to my knowledge.)

Have some examples. Pelle is a bred cat, so we know exactly what his colour is: blue-tabby mackerel. The stripes aren't well to see since he is so fluffy, but they are there. "Blue" is this greyish colour he has. Alva is a classical mackerel tabby, which is particularly well to see at her face, showing the typical tabby marks/mackerel marks.
Arradon has been THE typical black tabby mackerel.
Red tabbies aren't uncommon at all; even our Skrållan is theoretically a tabby, tough her stripes are very few and faint. Much like I'm being blond, I suppose, though the colour itself is decidedly more of a light brown.

[the-winterwitch.livejournal.com]

I so totally want one like these, too... it will fit perfectly with the large sticker I want for my car (though it's a witch-unfashionable red) with a witch on a broom...

[the-winterwitch.livejournal.com]

Nah, can't be Crookshanks. Aren't kneazels supposed to be larger than house cats? I'm totally for Will and Ro, too - the facial expressions! That is so not typical for the average Muggle cat...
I'm also not buying the male theory. We once had a male of nearly the same colouring, and his stepsister could have been the twin of the one in the image. No optical differnce between our cat and his stepsister, too...

[the-winterwitch.livejournal.com]

I'd like to contest that. While the data is true, it doesn't mean that you see more male red cats than female. The reason for that is the human preference for red cats, so very often you see much more red cats around than there should be, following the statistics and genetical reasons. (Yes, we have a female red one, too ;o) - I always wanted one, though she came to us as an emergency case without any regard to breed or colour).

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

My goodness, such beautiful pictures. Pelle is so very much King of the Castle. And isn't Skrallan the most adorable fluffy thing? (she may be a bit naughtier than that in RL, but on this pic she's so sweet!)

And feel free to make an icon - if I might snatch it when it's done?

[the-winterwitch.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the late reply, took me a while to manage that LJ gallery thingy (and didn't manage yet, but at least I can link to the images. I think.)

Anyhoo, here are two parking icons, one from your pic and one from a random pic found in the interwebs:


.  


Since both originals are signs to be seen and photographed publicly, I'm daring to use them for the icons.

Skrållan is indeed as naughty as she is fluffy. Redheads, you know? Particularly female redheads *g*

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

they're lovely, thanks!