How did we end up HERE?

[lady_schrapnell]

I was feeling almost caught up enough yesterday to do a nice update, with some amusing quotes and interesting facts from the world of 19th century domestic fiction. There was going to be a little bit more back-patting about my heroic self-restraint in resisting the lure of the new books which sing to me day and night. There was possibly going to be a separate post talking about the idiocy of Alan Johnson's new scheme funding the setting up of a 'dedicated boys' shelf' in every school in the UK (links later).

Instead, yesterday morning, I went down to pick up contact lenses for O.D., who'd been in London since Monday. Oh, in passing - on Wednesday I'd been walking down to the village with Y.D. to take her to the dentist and got a text from O.D. saying 'There's an UNEXPLODED BOMB in our Tube station!' With a bit of profanity added. Now, that'll get your adrenaline going. (As best I could figure out later, it was the WW2 bomb found in a garden in East London, but she said the announcement had been that it was in the station.) Anyway, all was serene until I got this text while walking back (she's the mistress of texts with Oomph!) : 'Ma...i accidentally just got another dog! Nicky found him in the canal and he was going to DIE'. As you can imagine, I rang and said all the sensible things about how it wouldn't be good for us to get a puppy, and how she'd stopped taking Bell out for walks over the years and how insane it would be in such a small house/tiny-already-ruined garden. Her friend Nicky rang her and said she'd found a taker, and I was well relieved. Until a short while later, while Skyping Charlie, O.D. called 'Ma. Nicky's on her way over with the dog!'

Nobody is foolish enough to think I managed to resist that little scrap, right? Especially with three of O.D.'s friends also looking pleadingly at me (turned out O.D. had 'managed' the truth a little all round!). And the fact that Bell had also been an abandoned dog, who'd probably have been dead under a car instead of up on my bed, had she not followed the right woman into her pub in the city centre. It's a little hard to get the story straight, but I think he and a sister were left in a cardboard box beside the canal. He's about eight weeks old, according to the vet, and was infested with lice, apparently. I thought it was fleas, but it looks as if it must have been lice, as his fur is covered with nits. All sharp teeth and big, floppy paws. (And he's got a strange preference for biting Y.D. in the - er, chestal area.)

And Bell, you may well be asking? She loves other dogs and is extremely good with them (and had a litter of her own as a child bride), but her nose is definitely out of joint. In the house she tends to run away from him, until he corners her and then she shows him her teeth which confuses him. Outside, she's willing to play but then HE gets scared as she's about 20 times his size, and he runs back inside if let. The deal - a faithful promise (quick ref to Northanger Abbey)- is that we give it two weeks, and if Bell can't live with him then we find another owner. Anyone taking any bets?

Now, there's just the little matter of clearing all the books, shoes, electrical cords, knitting, etc, away from puppy level. Even Bell, at about 18 months when we got her, ate a couple of books (including a chew on the cover of Dogsbody, most appropriately!) and the odd shoe. Nobody thinks the books in this house are actually all on shelves, right?

Comments

[myntti.livejournal.com]

Aww, those paws! Those floppy ears! He's adorable. Scratch him behind the ears for me, ok? :-) Is he a labrador & terrier mix?

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

That is the cutest puppy! No wonder you couldn't resist. Will you name him after you know you can keep him with Bell?

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

oh, what a darling!

[(Anonymous)]

Shelves shrink and shake books off, it is known!

And oh, the scrap, nobody decent could resist him. Bel will see the advantages of another dog soon.... he is so adorable...

[generalblossom.livejournal.com]

sorry, that was me! and *swoons again over the puppy*

[dorianegray.livejournal.com]

I very much doubt it will be possible for you to get all your books out of puppy reach.

Unless you've got some kind of extra-dimensional storage you never told me about...