The story of Bonnie the exploring dog and how she found her way home

A slightly different kind of 'review'...

The internet is awash with negativity today - no surprises there - so here's nice thing that happened to me to hopefully give you a smile.

So, today's topic of review is my day yesterday, which needs some pre-amble so stick with it, you get a free unintentionally preachy message at the end.

Sometimes, particularly in London the success or failure of our day often relies on our interaction with others.

London is famed for its stiff upper lipped silences. Commutes home are riddled with glaring eyes, scoffs and tuts as we pile on to an always late train - yes, that was directed at you First Capital. We are all a little self involved sometimes, its what makes us human and London can be a place that exasperates that so much that we forget to treat others like humans too..

Yesterday i experienced the humbling happiness of making someone else's day.


Disclaimer**  This isn't intended to say "i'm so fucking excellent and you are all awful cretins" though, this being the internet i'm sure there's some delight out there waiting to accuse me of such. I only wanted to share a nice thing to make you smile. Go ahead and troll if you feel the need.



A week or so ago i found a beautiful white staffie wandering lonesome around Tooley street, where i work, which for those that don't know is a very very busy street in London and not the safest place for an adventuring woofa. I picked her up and told the nearest authority (TFL) to call Battersea dogs home, which they didn't and a few hours later a dog warden came to get her.

I spent a whole week fretting about this poor lost dog and her panicked owner, i registered my details with the pound that she was taken too and sat around hoping that i could find a way reunite them with no idea how to.And i had pretty much decided i was just going to look after her until i found her another happy home.

On Monday - the day i was due to go and collect the woof an excellent thing happened.

I had intended to take her to Battersea to find her a nice new home - as much as i wanted to keep her, i don't have the time.

My colleague had a quick search online to see if anything had popped up and low and behold we found her owner. A lovely mum, Loraine and her 3 little girls who lived a stones throw away from my office and we're very tearfully missing their 13 yr old staffie, Bonnie.

I knew instantly that it was the same dog and called straight away. The conversation last about 20 mins and mostly consisted of this:

"Oh my God i can't believe you found her" Loraine,
"I am so happy i found you and you can get her back" Chloe,
"I can't tell you how much she means to us, we're so happy" Loraine,
"THIS IS SO EXCELLENT, I AM SO HAPPY, YOU ARE SO HAPPY, ALL THE FEELS" Chloe.

Repeat to fade.


The day after Loraine called me to say she had picked up Bonnie, had her looked over at the vets and much to my delight, had her micro chipped!

She offered me money as a reward, to which i obviously said no and told her i was so very happy that their family was back together and that was all the reward i needed.

The next day i popped up to visit them both with a packet of dog treats in my bag. Bonnie practically bowled me over as i came into the house.

Lorraine made me a cup of tea and we sat for twenty minuets just telling the story from both our sides. She hugged me and both her and her father told me they are so pleased it was me who found her and that i was a rare and amazing person.

I told them, i didn't deserve that and all i was doing was being nice, i guess and that i couldn't stop thinking about how upset the dogs owners would be so i did what i thought was the right thing.

As i left their house, after having lots of cuddles with Bonnie and making her promise me that she'd not go on any more adventures, I was absolutely beaming with happiness.

I had done something nice, purely because i felt compelled to and in doing so i had made this lovely little family outstandingly happy. Which was a feeling so addictive and lovely that i came back to my office to look up other ways i can get in involved in encouraging smiles.



So i guess i just wanted to write about it to say being nice is great.
Making people smile is wonderful and that in review, it was the best day of my year so far.

The way people interact on the internet seems to make them think that they are capable of weighing in on issues far beyond their reach. Issues so complicated, difficult and sensitive that no one of us can expect to have a solution.
I'm not saying i have the answers, i'm saying no one does.

So instead of wasting your internet energy spouting hateful bile - why not do something nice, and make someone else smile and then tell someone else about it, and maybe it'll make them smile too.

It'll make you feel a whole lot better about the world than being mean does.

Also, I then went and got drunk with my boss, so in review 10 out of 10 for my day yesterday.



I guess that's all.

Bring it on, happy feelings trolls.




The End.

For Fans of - Nice things, dogs, sunshine happiness and lollipops etc.

A visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan

Hello again internet.

My posts are annoyingly infrequent, I'm aware, and can only apologize  but you know I do life as well and sometimes it becomes more important than blogging. Also i'm lazy*. Who knew.

Let me tell you, i have lusted after The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan for quite some time. A vlogger I follow on YouTube - I know I'm a new medias traitor, i'm sorry but its interesting - that goes by the name of Hannah Hart raved about it and I, perhaps arrogantly, have assumed we have similar tastes due to her penchant for drinking wine and making awful puns, the worlds greatest pastimes i'm sure you'll agree.

So, I was browsing Herne Hill's delightful yet tiny bookshop and I saw this book that over the months had slipped to the bottom of my to read list. A perfect find, I thought.

And what a find it is. What a very rare book. 

I'm a big fan of stories that jump about, time wise, not sure why, its just always appealed to me and in AVFTGS it's charmingly and seamlessly done. In fact i'd go so far to say as this wouldn't be the book it is without the timey-wimey confusion. It adds so much to the story, you get a little slice of real life seen through the eyes of about 20 different characters who all interlink. Spread over about 60 years. Each character slightly struggling through a point in their life but ultimately they are refreshingly real and relate-able. For someone who usually reads fantasy fiction, or some derivative of it, this was a very nice change for me. 

Egan shows how human life as doomed to repeat with characters that are beautifully individual and detailed who interlock as we seem them at a difficult point in their lives.

What was interesting for me was the idea that each story was so different, but with similar things happening - does that make any sense at all? It does to me but i'm hungover so i don't think i can be a judge of 'sense.' I clearly don't posses any in the common variety. 

Note to self - wine will always lead to hangover, no matter how invincible you may feel. 

  

Returning to the point, AVFTGS is a great and original reflection on our fickle lives with ever changing trivial and poignant issues and with an overall idea that nobody really knows what they are doing in life, the same confusing trip ups are as present in youth as they are in middle ages. Which is comforting, not at all as depressing as it may sound and ultimately true. 

Not to mention, its very funny. In a kind of sarcastic, self depreciating way. A kind of High Fidelity way i think, which works perfectly with the themes and plots that run through it. 

I happily recommend this book. What i do not recommend is going to watch The Great Gatsby on a Thursday and being over excited by the excellent wine at your lovely local cinema... Just, you know, in case you were thinking of doing that... 

* I'm not actually lazy its just most of my downtime is spent reading books, and i'm going through a surge of excellent ones so instead of writing about them i am selfishly just powering through the series. Sorry. (No, i'm not actually, not at all. I am enjoying them GREATLY) 

The end.


For fans of: Nick Hornby,Roddy Doyle, Ian McEwan, Douglas Copeland
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