May already and only a month to go before I can leave my socks and vest off !! Mum always said “cast ne’er a clout ’til May is out”, but I can tell you with the weather we’ve been having I’m tempted to dare to disobey !!
Many of you have asked how little Gypsey is. Well, she is just great ! She recovered fully, is now Lola and is happily eating her way through her new home when not at art classes !!!
Toto went to a great new home and has slotted herself into the pecking order – near the top ! – of her new four-legged pals. Her adoption also gave me another opportunity to go up to the Vienne so I was very happy ! Geordie had lots of enquiries all of a sudden and has gone to Albi where he has six, yes SIX, children to play with.
Soapbox time again ! I have said time and time again that shit happens, we all know that and when I get people calling desperate for help rehoming dogs because they “have to go back to UK and never thought we would” or seeking kennelling facilities for a couple of months, I will do what I can to help even if I can’t understand why the problem has not been faced earlier instead of leaving things to the last minute. However, I’m soon going to stop trying to help. Time after time, Danielle (the voluntary SPA Inspector I work very closely with) puts herself out and reserves places for such dogs only to find, that despite promises made, no dog arrives and when we make enquiries we are told that “other arrangements have been made”. OK, but why are we not told, surely it is just common courtesy. Another increasingly regular problem is people leaving dogs and never coming back for them. One horrid snivelling confidence trickster swore to me several times during the course of calls to UK (at my expense !) that ” a friend was on his way from Paris with backdated kennel fees and a large donation”. Well, even if the friend was crawling backwards blindfolded from Paris he would have been here by now. Then there was Mrs. G who was desperate for us to look after Vinny – or was it Bonny, she couldn’t remember ! She even said she couldn’t understand how people messed us about when I was cautious about agreeing to help. Guess what, the time for Vinny (or Bonny, who gives a toss now ?!) to arrive and……………..silence ! Not even the good manners to get in touch.
Now it has happened again ! A lady desperate for us to take lovely Archie (see adoptions page) for the winter, promised she would be back in April. She didn’t have a French chequebook (should have been a clue Susan, should have been a clue !) so it was arranged that Poorpaws would pay the monthly kennel and feed bill and the ‘lady’ would pay the equivalent in Sterling into a Building Society account in England. All went well at first then the emails stopped. I recently checked my account and, surprise, surprise, no payment has been made since January and all emails are ignored. I work in a restaurant to fund Poorpaws and 100 euros a month is not peanuts for me ! So Mrs. P where are you ?! What is so difficult about emailing me to say there is a problem ?
It’s just pigging rude. Do you know it is illegal to abandon a dog in France ?
Now then, lets get on to happy news ! The Book Sale went well. In a way I think the rainy weather helped as you weren’t able to lounge or work in your gardens !! Don’t forget the Saturday Night Fever evening on June 11th and get in touch to reserve places – it’s getting closer !
Anyone looking to adopt a cat, take a look at Matthew – please !!
Have a wonderful Maytime, see you in June by which time I will have been to my first ever class reunion – we’re all over 60 now, how did that happen ??!!
PS. Since the above newsletter ‘went to press’ I have heard from Mrs. G. Apparently the email cancelling the kennel booking must have got lost and is floating around in cyberspace somewhere, together with my emails asking for news. So that’s one puzzle solved and apologies offered. (Sometimes I think I’d like to float around in cyberspace for a while – and if I keep upsetting people like I am at the moment, the floating may start sooner than anticipated !) Still waiting for the chap from Paris though …………………….. !