New Boy

Wednesday 14.10.09

The household is adjusting to life post-Bingley. I am more certain that having a new dog is like having a new baby. Without the breast-feeding though. Everybody gets a new role, responsibilities enlarge, especially in the area of dealing with poo and pee that is not our own. There are confusions over what the new member of the family is trying to communicate, why it has been communicated at 3am, and arguments over what to do about the communication. Siblings have a tendency to vie for attention and fall out at meal-times. It comes as a relief that where dogs are concerned it is morally acceptable to shout 'pack it in' as loud as I can manage. I expect nodules on my vocal chords to sprout any time soon.

Bingley, as it turns out, is clever, funny and likes a cuddle on the sofa. His hobby is chewing up cushions. In spite of advice to the contrary, we relented after 24 hours and took him out on a lead for a long road walk. He and I both were going stir crazy and felt better afterwards. Today, we went to the park in the dark and ventured off lead for a minute or two, hearts thumping in case Bing decided to run for the hills. He was happy to hang around quite close and come back for a treat. I like to think he has no intention of getting lost or being abandoned again. Whatever happened to him in his old life, he must have been loved. He is soft-hearted, does tricks, walks nicely on a lead, and we've had no toilet problems in the day (at night, a different matter, but we can't have everything). I wonder if his former family miss him and how they came to part.

My days have mostly been taken up with Bingley, but I've had time for one additional obsession. Project Runway, the TV show where fledgling dress designers compete for an irrelevant prize. I enjoy seeing what they come up with and judging their efforts. I've even put the programme in the TV planner. Unfortunately I've done a big fat zero towards my studies. This is worrying as various facebook friends are commenting that they are into it and enjoying it. I think that it's just procrastination and that adrenaline will kick in soon with the tutorial looming at the weekend. Nick is having a long weekend off starting tomorrow so that will be a further, lovely, distraction.