Frankie Returns From Hollywood

Never letting go…

ike GG, when it comes to our four legged friends, Mimi Duffy is much more of a dog worshipper rather than a cat cuddler.

Which makes her being the custodian of Greystones’ most famous feline, Frankie the Aldi Cat, more than a little surprising.

“I’m actually not entirely comfortable lifting Frankie up,” says Mimi as we set about taking some portrait shots on this fine Saturday morning. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the guy to bits, but I’m the one in the family who just doesn’t quite believe that Frankie isn’t one day going to suddenly go for a surprise scratch.”

Then again, Frankie might be having trust issues of late, his perfect life of strolling through the fields and gardens of Burnaby Court and its surrounds before taking his petting perch at nearby Aldi having been rudely interrupted on April 25th. That’s when the Duffy clan realised that Frankie might have strayed far beyond his usual territorial boundaries.

“We’re used to not seeing Frankie for a night, when he’s clearly having a whole lot of fun being footloose and fancy free,” says Mimi. “But when it became two nights, and then three, and no one had seen him at Aldi, we knew something was wrong...”

Being Greystones’ most famous cat, the cry went out far and wide to find Frankie. The days turned into a week, and then another week, until, finally, mercifully, the lad was spotted, down at Ashford Studios. Quite possibly auditioning for the next season of Vikings.

“When Frankie walked back into the house, he wouldn’t stop meowing,” smiles Mimi. “We think he was happy, but it’s always hard to tell with a cat. He could have been giving out to us.

“At least two of the meows sounding like swear words.”

Not yet back at his Aldi altar, Frankie is venturing “further and further” each day. “We reckon he’ll be back there, greeting his fans, in no time…”

In the meantime, we decided to find out how Frankie got from there to here, and back again…