Perhaps you'd like to meet Us?

Thought you might like to have an idea as to who we are - what better than to provide a visual? (please stop watching so much Star Trek, Pants)

TaaaaaaDaaaaaaa, here we are......

 

 

To clarify, Daddy (Trousers) is not YouKnowWho.

(calm down, Conspiracy Theorists. THAT guy def did come to a sticky end with Eva Braun in that bunker. Or DID he?).

 

Hair depiction of the 3 humans fairly accurate - ranging from 'Long' to 'Some' to, well, 'No Hair'.

Also featured are most, but not all, of our animal family members.  He was keen to include them.  Even the dead ones.

 

Yeah, the dead ones.  Last year was a tough year, we lost 4 of our family last year.

*  STANLEY, Greyhound, old old old age.  He came with us from the UK to Dubai & had a wonderful 8 years here.

 

*  GLORIA, Great Dane. Sadly, she was only about 3 yrs old, max. She was really sick when she came to live with us & we knew we'd only have a few months but we were determined for her to have a real home & know nice things like grass & love & cuddles before she left this earth.

*  IVY (not pictured), cat, 4 years old , handreared by Me since 1 hr old.  Presumed killed, shot.  Can't talk about it really.  Will do sometime. Not now.

 

*  TONY, Pekinese (Peke), 4 yrs old. Accident, hit by a car when he escaped from the house.  Despite weighing no more than about 3 kgs (when wet), he was a shocking car-chaser.  He also Esteem Issues (as in EXTREMELY high estimation of himself & DID believe he was indestructible.  Sadly, he was wrong.)

 

Survivors:
PAT is the African Grey Parrot.

OLLIE, the brindle Lurcher
BLANCHE, Harlequin Great Dane
Chopsticks, a TOY rat.

Not appearing due to lack of space:
MING, the black Devon Rex (cat)
LEAH (DIAMONDS MISS SNIPPET), my horse

 

BTW, this is also Us.
The resemblance is uncanny, I feel

 



"Wherever I am there's always Pooh. There's always Pooh and Me ..." A.A.Milne

 Focus on the dog, people.

The dog on the sofa. Not the weirdo kid.*

That is Pooh.  (oh DO try not to snigger) You know, Pooh? As in Winnie The ....?

Well, that dog, (name inspired by the books about a toy bear, written in the late 1920's, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh ) was a very special dog.

He was there, from Day 1 of Me.  Yep, from Day 1 of Me he never left my side (& vice versa ).

He, along with ALLLLLLLL the other dogs that entered my life as a child, (at one point we lived with, I think it was, 13 dogs - all rescues from HongKong SPCA, incidentally) started & then, signed, sealed & delivered the Love of The Dog (especially the Rescue Dog) into the very soul of Me.

I truly believe Childhood pets can be really pivotal.

He was mine.  It all started with him.



“So wherever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
"What would I do?" I said to Pooh,
"If it wasn't for you," and Pooh said to me: "True,
It isn't much fun for One, but Two
Can stick together," says Pooh, says he.
"That's how it is," says Pooh.”

― A.A. Milne, Now We Are Six

 

* Think that I should count myself lucky, having escaped any kind of lasting mental scarring from that outfit. It MAY have been the 70s but, come on!?

 

 

If you hate a book, do you ......?

... a) keep going? Refuse to give up? After all, perhaps it will reveal itself as you travel through it. Yeah. Perhaps.

OR

... b) ditch it.  Move on. So many books out there, not going to waste my time. 

 

Don't you 'must-read' me

For me, a 'must-read' is an 'almost guaranteed never to'.

 

e.g. HAVE NEVER READ:

* 'Marley & Me' - not a chance.  Someone gave it to me. I hid it behind the bookcase. Even the cover makes me cry

* 'Life of Pi' - STOP TELLING ME THAT I'D LOVE IT, for Christ's sake!

* any of the '50 Shades' things - are you serious? Never. Ever. Ever.

* 'Atonement' (Ian McEwen) - sooooo loathed 'On Chezil Beach' this is now out of the question.  I can hear you, Literati. You & your shocked sharp intake of breath.

 

* 'Wolf Hall' (Hilary Mantel) - Booker, Smooker. Did consider it but, oh, she was such an arse about that whole Kate Middleton thing, I'm over it.

Examples of  Hyped Books that I have read:

* 'Gone Girl' - clever, page turn(y) yarn. Couldn't put it down. Sucked me in.  Irritating at times.  Frustrating that you simply can say virtually nothing about it to anyone who hasn't read it, but is likely to.

 

 

* ' Da Vinci Code' - frankly, easily one of the worst books I have ever read.  Actually put it on the doorstep the second it was over.  Couldn't bear to have it in the house any longer.
     This is one of the few times I kept going.  Should NOT have bothered.

 

* 'One Day' (David Nicholls) - such terrible, forehead-slappingly appalling drivel.

* the 1st 'Twilight' book - Heavens to Betsy, what WAS I thinking?! And I am pro-vampire!!

* The Cat in The Hat - don't ask. Long story.
       40*ahem* years later, I am prepared to admit I was wrong about him.



Found these beauties at a book sale. 
Tingly book-geeky goosebumps.
'The Children's Treasure House'
edited Arthur Mee, 1926-28
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/jul/21/booksforchildrenandteenagers.featuresreviews

 

I DO like a recommendation so, go on, please, name me a book.

 

Just don't tell me it is a 'must you-know-what' ...



Write about your passion, they say.

(Well, in that case, this should be an easy post to write.)

OUR STARTING POSITION

It is possible that We are not entirely unbiased on this subject but, Rescue dogs (but, y'know, the species is really irrelevant) have been in my life since, well, Day 1.

Literally, since Day 1 of Me.

The Trousers has dedicated his life to animals too.  Fixing them.  Learning about them & helping them.  Whatever animal, seriously, WHATEVER animal he will want to try to help.  If it needs fixing, he will try to fix it.

Well, that's what vets do, right? So, no surprise there.

Together, we use our respective skills to try to help.

We have done our respective 'things' in a variety of countries, HongKong, UK & now, Dubai.

Even The Kid 'gets' it already, I'm proud to say.
When one of our (rescue, obviously) dogs passed away recently, He said,
"We need to find another dog that doesn't have a home & he can come be in our family"
*SNIFF* (that's ma boy.  He was 5.)

Animal Cruelty is everywhere

Let me be clear, cruelty to animals happens EVERYWHERE.  It is important we remember this.

HOWEVER, it is undeniable that there is still a disparity in legislation or priority given to repercussions when cases are brought to the attention of the relevant authorities, depending on the country.

This could be due to:
EITHER
a) the value or considered role of animals in a given society or culture
OR
b) the country's national economic situation & the strain its people are under.  Feeding One's children  or saving Oneself from the risk of rabies, for example, are not unreasonable priorities.

*enters, stage left, with Soapbox*

That said, on a level playing field, I'm going to go out of a limb (a fairly wide limb, that I can fit my soapbox on to) here and say:

1) It is NOT ok to hurt things for amusement
2) We (as a species) need to TEACH OUR CHILDREN that hurting things for amusement is NOT friggin' OK
3) Other sentient beings (doesn't matter how many legs, doesn't matter if furred, feathered, scaled, whatever) deserve RESPECT. You don't have to love them.  Just respect them.
4) Pets will teach your children valuable LESSONS in responsibility, compassion, care, &, when the time comes, death.  But if you are irresponsible about it, you will teach your kids some fairly worrying things too

'If you See Something, DO Something'

Recently, there have been a number of very upsetting reports of animal cruelty here in Dubai. 
There IS a Law.
It is a really good, comprehensive, thorough law but, the seeming lack of interest in enforcing the Law frustrates many.

Things will  improve & many here will, hopefully, see the campaign "If you See Something, DO Something' over the next few weeks.

By the way, this seems a fairly reasonable mantra to have, wherever you are.  Whatever the species.

No?

'the Off Switch'? On a 5 year old boy? Yeah, right

"Can anyone please tell me where I can find the off switch on a 5 year old boy? I've looked everywhere but can't find it. Think I have a faulty model."

asked a FB Friend yesterday.


My response:

"The operating system of a 5 year old boy is closely synced with that of the iPad.

Please note:
This only applies if Angry Birds or
some car/driving-based game
 has been installed

Switch one on, the other switches off.
Specifically, the locomotion sensors & the language/communication centres of the bipedal unit.
You will not be judged. Your sanity can thank me later. X"

The TeaBitch Wars rage on

In The Corner, a daily battle ensues. 

The prize, who is NOT going to be tonight's TeaBitch.

The strife commences almost as soon as We have settled on the sofa (our current televisual mission is Season 3 of Walking Dead, see yesterday's post).

Picture it:
The Grub is in bed. 
Supper is done. 
Dogs have settled to wherever they are likely to be for the rest of the evening.
The choc biccies are starting their evening whisper to remind us of where they are. (We know, biccies.  We know!)

Now, it turns out that, during daylight hours, I am happy to make any number of brews but, y'know, it feels a real bind, once I've got my proverbial wedged into The Spot on Sofa.

Tonight, I made an unprecedented move.

I offered to make a cuppa AS SOON AS we finished supper.  Kid is still up. Dinner things still on table. And, AND,....... and this is the genius stroke, I DON"T EVEN WANT A CUP OF TEA NOW!

Offer was accepted.

The Plan is that having accepted, this cup of tea, I am now off the hook for the rest of the night soooooooooo .......... when I DO want one (which will be in about 90 minutes) it will be HIS turn.

Poor Trousers.  He don't stand a chance.

Well, hellooooooooooo (& Zombies)

Yeah.

It's me. Again.

.......... Soooooooooooo, *mumbly & awkward* it has been almost exactly 3 years since last chatted & even then, it was quite brief.

As i may have mentioned before, this is the continuation of my previous blog, dubaidaisy.blogspot.com

I am reinspired to try to regularly blog again, let's see what happens shall we?

Hands up, if you have Zombie Sense.

Last night, The Trousers, whilst we were watching  'The Walking Dead' http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead_(TV_series) (let's call it zombie TV) that I have no Zombie Sense & that I would be hopeless in a zombie-based scenario.

I am unsure as to what I should do with this information.