Falklands blog for Tuesday April 16 2013
I could have titled this, raining cats and dogs. Rotten weather with thunder and lightning and stair-rod rain and the MPA road closed to MOD personnel. Still wait a wee while and different weather will come along – it did. It is now spitting, but no need to “run for your lives”.
Back to the cats. All curious and friendly. Whistle and they will come up to you and be friends. Leave the front door open, and they will settle down in your house. They have the rule of the roost here and the dogs don’t like it. I never seem to see dogs being taken on a lead for a walk, though I did see a sheep taking a boy for a walk along my street the other night.
The dogs are mostly working dogs and are tied up in gardens and are very territorial. I presume that they do not socialise as much with people while being taken for “walkies” as dogs in the UK do. Back home, meeting fellow dog owners and their pets is a chance to natter and to create a complex knot of dogs and leads; the dogs get to meet others of their kind, to be “clapped” by friendly doggie people and if they are lucky (they usually are) to be given a treat or two.
Cats don’t seem partial to treats, but they enjoy the attention and a tuft or two or three. I will never forget watching a young boy climb the street on his way home in Stanley. His cat trotted down the street (in that elastic bouncing way that cats do), circled him a couple of times and then walked back home with him again. Nature abhors a vacuum and cats now occupy the evolutionary niche that elsewhere is full of dogs.
Gizmo from next door
