Have you heard the one about the London Overground and the hare?
One fluffy bunny is going viral after hopping aboard a London bus and casually going for a ride, without an owner in sight.
Twitter user Matt Hepburn captured the Petter Cottontail (or Cottontransit, perhaps? Cottontrain?) aboard the bus with a single photo and the only caption that could possibly describe the seriousness and serendipity of the situation: “There’s a rabbit on my bus.”
There’s a rabbit on my bus. pic.twitter.com/ccPtRo3KdH
— Matt Hepburn (@MattHepburnClan) September 29, 2017
Naturally, the internet wanted to know, where did he come from? And where did he go? Where did he come from, this Cottontail Joe?
Well, apparently this li’l bun gets around and was spotted on the Overground once before.
I saw him on the overground to hackney the other day.. he’s very busy & important, rarely late. pic.twitter.com/6yCnZ88Vx0
— Just a glamorous person (@JoDuffy91) September 29, 2017
Perhaps the bus bunny was bugging out over being a tad bit tardy for a seemingly momentous occasion?
https://twitter.com/SylviaFysica/status/914122477810388992
Could it have been related to at least one of these bunnies in Manchester?
https://twitter.com/CliveForNothing/status/913961190094753793
It’s OK though—Hepburn was able to talk to the bunny’s owner, and as it turns out, this is like, a normal day for it.
“Apparently he does this often,” Hepburn wrote, stating the owner was sitting a few seats away. However, though it’s not completely clear if the hare is the one who “does this” and rides the bus often, or if the owner rides the bus with the bunny often, but just gives it space.
So I tracked down the owner: a laid back, space hippy&apparently he does this often. I did have to stop a family from treading on it tho!
— Matt Hepburn (@MattHepburnClan) September 30, 2017
@gregzeene Hi Greg. I got on and tried to find out whose it was – owner was a few seats away, both looking v chilled.
— Matt Hepburn (@MattHepburnClan) September 30, 2017
In fact, this “laid back space hippy” of an owner has sparked more questions than answers: If he rides with the rabbit, does he wait for the rabbit’s signal to hop off the bus? If the rabbit rides alone, how does it reach the buttons letting the driver know it would like to get off at the last stop? What circumstances in this world have brought together a bus-riding rabbit and a space hippy?
The world may never know.