To help overcome writer's block and start writing the first sentences of A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway is said to have reminded himself: “Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
One morning in 2001, I saw Amy, the yellow lab in Queens Park with her owner, “The bloke with a beard”. He told me that ‘John had died’ and ‘Amy was missing him’. It took a few moments before I realised he was talking about a fellow dog walker, “The old bloke who walked Amy the lab for his neighbour”.
My travel journals are typically student exercise books, with each day's sights and highlights recorded over two or more pages. Daily diaries of work and everyday life are less exciting. And it took me many years to settle on a format to jot down the day's events without feeling like it was a chore.
As a dog training instructor, I'm often asked for advice on choosing a dog. A common misconception among prospective dog owners is that the main concern is matching a dog to your living area. But a dog is not just for Xmas. It's lifestyle, not living area, that should determine whether you buy a dog.
In December of 2012, I told a friend I actually enjoyed a bottle of Barefoot Sparkling Wine, but the guy turned out to be an informant for the League of Very Relevant Wine Bloggers, who subsequently banned me from writing about wine for 40 months.
As Ben Elton observed in Gridlock, native English speaking travellers, like me, seem to think our language becomes understandable to non-English speaking people if we speak slow-ly and LOUD-LY.
Jet joined our family in March 2014. It had been two-and-half years since we'd lost our dear old Lab, Harry, and Jet was two-and-half years old at the time. It seemed a good omen. However, we were Jet's fourth family! Why had he had so many homes? What had happened to him? Was he unruly and aggressive?
Walking to the local coffee shop one morning, my dog, Harry, alongside me on-leash, I overheard a passer-by compliment, "Look at that well-trained dog." "Nah," retorted another. "You should see the two big dogs outside the coffee shop. They walk off-leash."
When my wife and I told family and friends we were expecting our first child, their first response was, "Harry's nose will be put out of joint!" I was determined our three-year-old Labrador's nose would not be put out by, nor would he be shooed outside, away from the new baby in the pack.
My local dog club runs a season-ending Fun Day with events designed to be fun and to test the bond between members and their dogs. Our most popular events include fancy dress, an agility-type slalom, a saveloy race (relay, not eating!), the waggliest tail and an event we call the "Ned Kelly".
Last year I talked to the children at my son's childcare centre about dogs and the important question, Can I Pat That Dog? I divided the talk into three parts: 1) How to approach a dog; 2) How to look after a dog; 3) Dog training and tricks.
