Walking around in the mornings with my excellent, faithful and beautiful hound Lasi (NOT named after a famous Scottish TV hero but a Chinese card game) I realise I probably know more dogs than people. Sad as, but true! So I’d like to introduce them to you.
This is Barry who has the world record in tail-wagging from distance – he starts wagging probably from 300 yards or so. Good eyesight, or is it smell?
Brandy was rescued from a sewage pipe where somebody had thrown him and his four siblings. Thanks to a good woman named Viki Brymer they have all been placed. Brandy used to preside over lovely Pui O Delicious, the best restaurant in the village. Sadly, that, as all good restaurants ever to dare trying to make a business in Pui O, has died a death. Now I see Brandy only occasionally.
Here are Steven (possibly Stephen) and his brother
Stephen (or Steven). Every time I walk from Pui O to Mui Wo they come out in force to greet me. I’m sure they’re supposed to guard their workshop (cars, boats) for their owners, but those kind people indulge me when I nip around most days to ruin their dogs from guard-hood.
Ah-Wu (Black) always hangs around Lantau International School where he is a big hit with the kids, who call him Milo.
Scobie (Scooby?) is another walking from Pui O to Mui Wo-greeter of mine. A bit long in the tooth, he still comes galumphing down the hill when I call his name.
Theo, oh, Theo! So beautiful and gentle. His thing is running into the water to pick up balls. I actually know his owners; wonderful people. Wonderful people get wonderful dogs it seems, and here is another one to prove that right:
Shiyomi, queen of Lo Wai village. She’s enormous and dances like an elf.
Finally there’s Reidar, who lives in a valley far away from Pui O. I found her, placed her and gave her the name, an old Norse one. It’s based on my first childhood love, Reidar Helgesen who lived just down the road from me. He had golden curls and brown eyes. Awwww… Reidar’s owner, the indomitable Jenny Quinton of Ark Eden fame, thinks the dog is called “Radar”. Which isn’t far off the mark, seeing that Reidar has killed many cats in her neighbourhood. Go, Reidar, go!
Finally, here is my girl Lasi again, trying to save the Lantau countryside, this time Shek Kwu Chau island just off Lantau, from becoming the site of a gigantic rubbish incinerator. It could just be that she has succeeded in this.
I’m on a blog catch-up tonight and I read this post immediately after reading about the appalling gaff situation above. It doesn’t help with the house thing any, but I personally found it a lovely antidote to the (genuinely) shitty slope thing.
Our “village chief/idiot” has proposed building a streetlight in our actual front yard. I think he aunt owns our house. He posted the notification calling for potential objections on the village noticeboard last week – two months after the time for objecting had lapsed. I know it pales in significance to losing your beloved house to a slope renovation, but I really empathise with the helplessness of these situations. What’s wrong with the other 15 streetlights in the village? Or the moon?