Scary dog?

All this talk about dangerous dogs is making me sad.

While I agree, of course, that certain breeds of dogs are genuinely more aggressive than others, the majority of dogs behave how they are taught by their owners - whatever the breed.

I wholeheartedly agree with this editorial in the Guardian - here is a quote:

"This easy assumption of equivalence between wealth and responsibility is not just insulting: in no area more than dogs is it so flagrantly wrong. Canines simply don't buy the values of the market economy: they don't want an owner with a good job – they would rather have a tramp or a teenager. I always notice how well-adjusted and biddable are the dogs of people who spend a lot of time with them – in contrast to nutty labradors who only see their owners on a Saturday and have the recall of a squirrel."

We have a dog called Audrey, she's a 9 month old mongrel and her dad happens to be an American staff. She is sweet and friendly and wants to play with every other dog she meets *pant pant love you lick lick* - that is her ethos.

Now I used to be TERRIFIED of dogs. Wouldn't even go in a room with them. In fact, when we went to pick up Audrey from the lovely couple in West Hampstead, whose two dogs bred by mistake, my boyfriend had to go in and get her. I stayed in the car, hoping the dogs wouldn't escape and KILL ME.

But I've got to know dogs, and you can tell when they're dangerous, and people that keep these animals need to take responsibility.

Make dog licenses compulsory, and in cities like London make areas of a park where dog owners can go and let their dogs play without fear that a hysterical mother will say that her child is at risk because a completely normal dog is running around playing.

There's a lady upstairs where we live, that acts so mental and hysterical every time she has to walk past our dog that Audrey thinks she is the most exciting being in the world. Who can blame her, wanting to know what this creature is that shrieks so high pitched and waves and flails limbs around.

I'm a converted dog lover, and I totally respect that not everyone feels the same, but we need to make sure there is more understanding, not fear.

Cycling through the city at 8am

It makes such a difference what time you cycle through the City of London in the morning.

When I leave at 730, it’s no problem at all. I can sail past the buses, there are hardly any other cyclists around, and pedestrians are at a minimum.

But if I leave at 745, hitting the City around 8, it’s a whole different story. The worst part is the additional cyclists. This morning I encountered two of the very slow kind – these are the cyclists that just started again this week because the sun came out. It is too narrow in the City to cycle really slowly, it’s just selfish.

Then there was a lady (I’m all for female cyclists, more of us please!) who stopped in the middle of a two lane road, just because she didn’t want to cycle past a bendy bus (a stationary bendy bus). I nearly crashed into the back of her, and the man behind me into the back of me. We nearly had a four bike pileup on Bishopsgate. All because she can’t cycle past parked vehicles.

I’d like to add, that it’s fine if you want to stop because yes, accidents do happen. But stop on the left hand side of the road, not in the middle.

On the whole though, it was a lovely ride. And it’s so nice that it’s light now in the mornings.

PS I'd like to say I will still be writing about poker, I just want to write about other things too