Edinburgh firm Eagle Couriers rescue lost tabby cat Sampson after he is found in Plymouth – 500 miles from home

By JENNA RAFFAELLI

A LONG lost cat has been found more than a year after he went missing – almost 500 miles away from his home.

Sampson, a large white and brown tabby cat, was handed into a vet centre in Plymouth, Devon – 478 miles away from his home in Penicuik, Midlothian.

The marauding moggie was identified by a microchip in his skin to the delight of owner Linda Jansen, the Assistant Science Curator at the National Library of Scotland, who will finally to be reunited with her beloved tabby tomorrow.

FOUND: Sampson

Overjoyed Linda, 45, said: “We thought we would never see him again but then on Sunday I got a call from a veterinary surgery in Plymouth.

“At first I was sceptical about whether or not it was him.

“But when the vet described him to me, I knew it was Sampson.”

Sanctuary

Linda and her two daughters Kirsten, 12, and Lauren, 16, told how they first rescued Sampson from a cat sanctuary in the Borders and discovered he was a loveable animal.

The cat spent hours watching people from the balcony and became a firm member of the family before he disappeared in March 2008, sparking a desperate hunt to find him.

He was last seen lounging in the garden when Linda had gone to work but when she returned, he was nowhere to be found.

Linda said: “He was such a character and really was the man of the house. It was so strange when he went missing and we couldn’t find him.”

Afternoon tea is battling against price hikes

By Cara Sulieman

THE humble cup of tea used to be a staple of the British diet until reports surfaced last week that its price was set to rocket due to a shortage of tealeaves.

But in the face of a tea crisis, one hotel chain is doing everything it can to encourage people to “indulge” in a budget cream tea offer.

A combination of drought in three pf the largest tea-producing countries – Sri Lanka, India and Kenya – and the weak pound mean that the import is costing the producers of high street brands more and more.

Tea, which is sold in dollars, has rocketed from $1.76 a kilo in 2007 to $3 a kilo in recent months, mainly due to the smaller amounts being produced.