" Put us together, together again"

On February 13th Kai would have had his 13th birthday--we have, somehow, got through the past four years without him. As with all consuming love--one cannot imagine life without it and yet one carries on.

Last Autumn Bobi--the oldest dog in the world lived to be 31 or the equivalent to 200 human years! At the time Danny Chambers, a council member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons was quoted in a national newspaper article saying " Dogs don't have any ambition to live a long life--they want to be happy day by day--"

I know that Kai led a very happy, contented and pampered life day by day. The love, affection, loyalty, companionship he gave us has been sadly missed but the many happy memories we have of him have been immensely comforting in the time since we lost him.

The on-going Statutory Inquiry into the handling of the pandemic is causing me to focus once more on the period of the lockdowns and how keenly Kai's absence was felt at that time. It is hard to imagine now how we all lived through those challenging times, the loneliness and the isolation.
That time is the backdrop to my book and I wanted especially to document it for posterity because it is so hard to remember the day to day reality of that time. Although the losses sustained by so many people will never be forgotten.

Last year, royalties from my book were shared between my local branch of Animal Samaritans and Humane Society International. In relation to the latter, some success was achieved through this organisation's work and their activists on the ground. In January 2024, the government of South Korea voted to ban the breeding, slaughter and sale of dog meat in the country. The dog meat trade will be illegal from 2027. RESULT!

This year, I intend to share any royalties I receive between Support Dogs for Autism, Epilepsy and Disability and FRAME--Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments, which is a charity dedicated to new methods that will remove the need for laboratory animals in scientific, research, education, and testing.

My plans for 2024 include continuing to promote "The Dog Who Arrived In A Box" without the aid of social media. I am also planning another trip to Perth, Australia. This time it will be around Easter which should be a lot cooler. Temperatures have been unprecedently hot so far this summer in Western Australia. The plan is to go via Singapore and Sydney.
Revisiting Singapore after many years is something we are really looking forward to. The last time we were there they had just started building the Metro system---.

In my last blog, I mentioned that Sveta, Kai's owner, welcomed identical twin grand daughters into her family.
It was a much anticipated and long awaited joy to meet them last August when they came on their first visit from the USA.
They are 18 months old now, full of mischief and beyond cute. They bring smiles, laughter and happiness to all around them. We are privileged and proud to be their 'Aunty' and 'Uncle' These delightful, precious bundles of joy have given new meaning and purpose to Sveta and brought much needed solace to her.
They are a daily tonic, helping to " put us together, together again" in the words of the Hot Chocolate group's popular hit song.

Already they have a great love of books, one of their favourite places is their local library. They are building their own book collection which, of course, includes The Dog Who Arrived In A Box. They even have a cushion with a beagle on it which bares an uncanny resemblance to Kai.

Their love of books at such an early age reminds me of a quote from Abu-El-Ezz from " The Book Collectors of Daryya" (Syria)

" Books don't set limits, they set us free, they restore. Reading helps me think positively, chase away negative ideas. That is what we need most now" 

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