Stepping stones. Millions of stepping stones. And even more millions of litres of river. Some of the stones aren’t really stones at all. Some are slippery. Some are tiny, some are close together but most aren’t. The ones that are, generally don’t lead across the river, just along the middle. It might be deep, it […]
It’s a long one, folks – I hope you have good biscuits.. *** “Ah! You’re here to pick P up. Come in!” I have no idea whether the receptionist phoned ahead or whether it was pure good timing that there wasn’t a queue and that the carer who met me at the gate knew who […]
Sometimes you get to the point where you have to change something. Until then, you can cope and cope and cope. That moment. The one that changes everything, can be tiny. One you might overlook if it didn’t happen at the exact right time. There’s a special combination of attitude and exhaustion and hope and […]
Surprisingly, both I and the van arrived, undamaged, at the rescue centre. (We didn’t even get lost on the way). I found a decent sized parking space and headed for the reception desk. *** Receptionist: “Good morning, what can I do for you?” Me: “Hello! I’m here to collect P” R <smiling>: I’m going to […]
It was snowing when I went to bed on Monday. It snowed while I was asleep. It snowed… …and snowed… …and snowed… ~25cm overnight. *** In the morning – a very dark, but also very white morning – Tuesday appeared. Tuesday. Dog-pick-up-day. I was going to pick up a dog, on my own, in the […]
The second walk was on a Sunday. On the following Monday DB phoned me from work, excited like a little kid who’d been invited to a birthday party. Turns out the RC had not only received the blood test results, but the vet had also been and pronounced P fit – as long as she […]
On the way home from the first meeting, DB had thought-out-loud about adopting P even if his parents wouldn’t. After the first walk, the idea was firmly fixed in his head. A second walk, the next day, sealed the deal. P was going to be rescued whatever his folks said (and they weren’t making dog […]
The day of The Walk arrived. Finally. DB and I got there half an hour earlier than his father and C, to give us time to sort out the paperwork – that was DB’s job because he’d spoken to the rehab centre (RC) most, and his dad didn’t want to complicate things. DB’s mother stayed […]
A few days later we were back, well before closing time. We were welcomed into the rehab centre and P was brought in to see us. DB took a couple of pictures, but nothing spectacular – P isn’t the most camera friendly dog (and DB was too busy filling in the forms necessary to be […]
The dogs home was much bigger and quite a lot better than I’d expected. Also they don’t just have dogs.. The animals are kept in groups (cats/small animals/dogs/exotic animals/birds/farm animals), where each group is assigned its own area. Each area is divided into different sections, the dogs area has a compound for dogs that were […]
Sporadically, DB looks at pictures of dogs currently in the dogs home. It’s a bit like a dating site; each dog has a profile picture, several additional pictures, and a list of information people may or may not consider interesting or necessary. Occasionally, while scrolling through the pictures, he will sigh and tell me all […]
[A short history] I didn’t want a dog. I don’t remember ever wanting a dog. Not even as a kid. My family wasn’t and isn’t particularly dog-friendly, and besides, we had a mouse, followed by cats, chickens, goats and pigs. I had no need for a dog. I could snuggle up in bed with the […]
I went out by myself this morning, and came back with this old lady. Apparently she wants to live with us….. Look at that tongue! I think she’s settling in extremely quickly… Too tired to write more about it tonight – maybe tomorrow…
I got my results today. They came in the post, in an innocuous white envelope. I’d almost given up on them ever arriving. It’s been over a month since the exams. A long kind of month. A month with christmas and travel and parties and illness. I have no idea how I got through the […]