Cat's meat man

I finally completed my first novel, in lock down of 2020. The year when we are all told to stay home, stay safe and various other guidance. From people who, unquestionably, have no clue what the heck is going on. When they say, there is a story in everyone, I categorically believe this is true.

There isn't time to sit down and write, what with working full time, exercising, cooking, and the beloved housework and chores. So I pledged to make the best possible use of the time I am gifted by being locked down.

The writing bug well and truly bit me, and novel one is complete. The 18 months planning and preparation I put in prior obviously helped. Covid19 is the kickstart I needed to get me focused.

I drafted a sequel in a couple of months and signed up for a writing boot camp to write 50,000 words in a month. A challenge but, 'game on.' I decided I wanted to try something different to the young adult novels I am writing, which revisits and rethink the Dracula story.

I focus on one of my favourite characters 'Travis,' who is named after my first dog. Yes, I love the character as much as I loved the dog. Travis is Dracula's youngest son in my books. I quickly made the decision this challenge would be a prequel telling the story of how Travis becomes the man he is today.

The story is based in the early nineteenth century and follows the life of a vampire. From him being seven years old, he gets lost and kidnapped when his parents are murdered, to the present day.

Growing up on the rough and ready streets of London. An absolute dream to write, combining my three favourite things, writing, history and goals. I love working to a tight deadline, this always brings out the best in me.

My favourite subjects in school were English Literature and History. Why I never thought to combine these passions before, I am unsure. I have a character, all I need is the journey, within the 30-day target to write this 50,000 word adventure.

When I mentioned I like a challenge I am being serious. I need to ensure the timelines are correct, time frames lined up with historical facts and a cockney slang to write in as well. I wrote the minute I got up, the second I started my lunch break, and the moment I logged off from work at night.

A plethora of information is available for the subjects of my book , I created Pinterest boards of fashions through the ages, images of London streets in the times of the story. What blew my mind is the amount of trivia I am amassing from the era. One of our weekly lock down quizzes is based on history and I unreservedly whip the opposition into shape.

When stumbling across the cat's meat man, my initial reaction is an expletive. Due to the gruesome nature of the words I needed to find out more, against my better judgement I followed the Google rabbit hole to find out everything I can.

Delighted as I am to discover this is not a man selling cat's for consumption. Making me question my findings more. The cat's meat man has a cart. He rolled this cart through the dirty streets of London selling horse meat which is dyed green, to symbolise the meat isn't fit for human consumption.

In all the pieces I researched about the cat's meat man is a portrayal of women as the buyers of the meat to feed the stray cat's. These are people who money is not of an abundance, so why are they paying a penny for a stick of rancid meat?

The plot thickened, in my eyes, I came to a couple of assumptions. Either the meat is poisoned to keep the stray cats under control and earn a living for the cat's meat men. Who, according to research made an exceptionally decent living. As a rule they worked until selling their round and moved to the country buying farms with their earnings.

My second assumption is the women buying the cat's meat, are not as wealthy as you would imagine on first reading the romance of the tale. They are buying 'unfit for human consumption' meat. Considerably cheaper than meat from the local butcher, and using the cast-offs to feed their family. Let's hope it wasn't poisonous.