In the café we went to in Culross a few days ago there were quite a few dogs, two of which became rather yappy when they spotted each other. Then yesterday after I had been visiting with Jennifer and Caroline in Prestwick, I went out for a walk along the promenade, and I saw lots of people walking with their dogs in the darkening twilight. There were so many canine companions frolicking around that it felt almost surreal. This made me think about the truly lovely wee Westies that my parents had in the 1970s and 80s, Mandy and Judy. I loved dogs as a child and I still do, but I wouldn’t want to have one any more. Due to our busy working lives when we got married, instead of a dog that we would have to take for walks, we got our first cat Tess, who was advertised in the paper as “adorable kitten free to good home." We joked that she would sue us because we didn’t have a good home, and that we would sue her because she wasn’t adorable! But actually she was adorable. And so have been her successors; we have been lucky that our cats have always been such great wee characters.
I always thought that we might get a dog for the children one day, but perhaps because we already had cats the boys were never very insistent about getting a dog, and the time for it has definitely passed. James and I are more footloose and fancy free now than we have ever been, and dogs are just too dependent and time consuming for us at this stage of our lives. But I do like other people’s doggies (although being out of practice I’m very wary of them up close now); and of course I am extremely fond of two present day wee Westies - Angus Smith and Hamish G! Bailey next door is very cute too and wee Bella across the road is just delightful. In the same way as with nieces and nephews, I can enjoy them without having to do any of the hard work!
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