Saturday May, 3

Last night I ticked something off my bucket list. I had tried to walk to the beach with Shanti but she has sat down after about 200 metres. In the end I walked her home, gave her water, and left her while I walked to the beach. As I walked I could here thunder in the distance.

I got to Leo and sat down for a lassi, and then a second. As I sat there the thunder moved overhead and there came a sudden tropical rain that didn’t stop. After ten minutes the paths were shallow rivers. After forty minutes the floor of Leo was a shallow lake and the paths had become fast moving streams. Hoping it would stop soon I decided to have a beer and watch it for twenty minutes. I did and I saw no change. If anything the rain got heavier.

I paid, took my t-shirt off and began to walk home. The rain felt hot enough to shower in and at some points I walked with the water well over my ankles and heading towards my knees, and moving rapidly.

This afternoon I meet up with Olja and her dog. We agree to meet by the pond. Shanti sits down again and I remove her lead and walk on. She instantly gets up and follows along running ahead and waiting or dawdling to sniff something and then catching up.

I realise the problem: she just doesn’t like walking at the end of a lead.

Doh!

We wait for Olja by the pond and I put the lead on her while I sit on the wall. She sits down next to me. I look at the gate opposite us that leads into a plot of land that has remained empty as long as we have passed this way.