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Andrew Kay on how being made redundant gave him a dog’s life
Having grown up with dogs, my London years were for the most part a canine wilderness. I did live in lodgings with a posh girl who had a cocker spaniel for a while but on the whole the metropolis was a dog free era. And probably rightly too. I had neither the time nor the space for a dog in my life back then.
I didn’t have time once I moved to Sussex either, commuting each day as I did to Victoria with hoards of other liars. Oh yes, all commuters from Sussex to London are liars. Ask them what it’s like and they will tell you it’s fine, it takes less than an hour. Liar, liar pants on fire. On a good day the train part alone will take 55 minutes. Add to that embarkation etc and onward journeys and getting to the station and buying a coffee and a paper… All commuters are liars.
‘‘All commuters from Sussex to London are liars. Ask them what it’s like, they will tell you it’s fine’’
Once I gave it up, I was made redundant, I discovered that there was life beyond commuting. Before long I had carved a new, if slightly less stable one than my life in hardback books, and I got a dog.
My first was Buster, a big old brindle boxer which I found through a charity called Boxer Rescue. What a great organisation, efficient and kind. Buster came everywhere with me, and was universally loved. He died at the ripe old age of 13 and I cried for days.
When I moved out of the city centre I decided it was time to get another dog. Smaller this time but definitely a rescue dog. I went to Raystede Animal Welfare. It was an amazing experience. Forms to fill in, home to be checked and compatibility to be measured. I could not browse for a pet, they would pre-select a few for me to look at. It was a great idea and in the end, after a week of checks, I left with Holly, she simply insisted.
Holly now goes everywhere with me and is loved by everyone who meets her. She is quite distinctive, a cross of collie and whippet I reckon but she looks very refined. So much so that I soon became tired of describing her as a mongrel. I subsequently told people that she was a Belgian mackerel hound. I still do and you’d be surprised at how many people ‘know’ the breed or have a friend who also has one.
I know that it’s wicked, and a terrible lie, but then I am after all a reformed commuter.
Raystede Animal Welfare, Ringmer, East Sussex, BN8 5AJ
01825 840252
www.raystede.org
