Retroexposure

Chapter 3 - Saturday 22nd September 2007

12:29am
A quiet evening tonight. Not really had much to think about. Well that's not entirely true. We watched two films tonight. Both dog orientated. First was a true classic, certainly in my book, Greyfriar's Bobby. When I was little, I used to watch this film constantly. Pretty much every day I think. I almost wrecked Gran and Gramps's video player. The tape had been played so much that it got stuck in the machine. The tape got ruined and it had to be destroyed, just so the video machine could be fixed. I was devastated!
Fortunately, I only had to live without the film for about 12 months and then it was shown on TV again in 1989. I'll have to check, but I think it was on before Gran and Gramps died that year, so I think I was able to watch it again with them before they passed away.
The second film was Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, which was a 90s remake of The Incredible Journey which was made in the 60s around the same time as Greyfriar's Bobby, as it happens. I think the films got Mum all emotional, especially as Bobby's loyalty to his deceased master reminded both of us to how loyal Sherry was to me.
Sherry and Brandy were the two West Highland Terriers that we owned before we moved to where we are today. In our old house we had enough room to home three dogs.
But when we moved, especially to rented property we had to decide which dogs we were going to keep. Sven, Sherry or Brandy. Well Sherry and Brandy had to come as a twosome, so that made the decision even harder to make.
As hard though it was, the decision we made, was the logical one. Sherry and Brandy weren't really house trained, which at 7 years old, they should've been. My fault, I was too soft on them. So to have them in a newly renovated house would've been a disaster.
There certainly wasn't room for all three, which was plainly obvious on the first night we moved in. The spare room where we might have put them was full, floor to ceiling, of boxes. Though it hurt to say goodbye to them, I think it was the right decision.
I feel hurt and angry that the people we gave Sherry and Brandy to never stayed in touch, not unless we rang them. And, it turns out, that the people only had them for a few days before giving them to someone else, who ended up renaming Brandy, Scruffy.
We were told that the new owner would contact us to let us know how the dogs were settling in on their new farm, but it didn't happen. I wonder if Sherry pined for me so much that she died suddenly of a broken heart. I don't want to think that, but knowing how she apparently behaved whenever I was away from home, usually with S, Mum said that Sherry never left my bed, she always stayed there, keeping it warm, waiting for my return.
This is the first time I've really talked about losing the dogs in such detail. I guess I could never draw myself to really think about it. But now we've still got Sven. It didn't seem right to give him up seeing as he was 11 years old. His breed generally doesn't live long past 11, so we wanted to keep him till the end of his days, plus he's pretty well house trained!
At least Sherry and Brandy, wherever they are, could spend the last half of their lifetime with a new family. I thought I would find it hard to live without Sherry, she always snuggled up next me in bed, especially in the crook of my knees. I'll be honest; she kept me warm at night. I'm certainly going to miss her this winter, I can tell you. But I will always have my memories of her and Brandy.
At least with Sven, we go out more for walks than we ever did. He's even got his own doggy friends too. I don't know all the owners by name, but I know their dogs! And generally Sven gets on with most of them. Ironically, it's the terrier breeds that he doesn't get on with, some are ok but most, if they look anything like Sherry, or especially Brandy (who Sven hated) would get seriously barked at! The ones Sven gets on with the most are Labradors, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, and Rottweilers.
Well that's stopped me getting misty eyed! I could probably guarantee that Mum would be crying by the end of this entry!! 1:09am

11:14pm
I didn't really get up to much today. Spent the morning playing my football manager game, as I tend to spend most mornings really.
However the afternoon was a bit more action packed (!) I had the two police officers come round at about quarter to four this afternoon. I say police officers, if I'm honest, I didn't know who the hell they were. They looked like agents from the movie Men in Black, or Mr. Smith from the Matrix movies! I don't recall them actually introducing themselves to me. I'll just call them by their numbers. PC 1271 and PC 889.
What they were here to do was, it seems, to update their files or something. They asked me my name, date of birth, distinguishing features, how tall I was, how much I weighed, even my sexuality! Then they had to take a new picture of me.
I must admit when the police officers arrived, I was expecting them to arrive in an ordinary Police car. Instead they arrived in a black car, and they were dressed in an all black uniform, not a stitch of white anywhere! The only real evidence that they were police officers was their radios and utility belt, which contained handcuffs, CS gas and an asp. They were only with me for about half an hour, and that was it. No more updates till I re-sign next March. I spent the evening doing what most of the world's population do, sat in front of the TV. Saw an interesting and funny retrospective documentary on Elton John. They guy really knows how to send himself up! The man is a true legend, and one I'd give my eyeteeth to meet. (Eyeteeth? What the hell does that phrase mean anyway?) Even as I write this, I've been listening to Elton's greatest hits album. We'll talk about my music tastes later, so till then, give me a break! Ciao for now! 11:44pm