
As the days of the festive season give way to January, I was anticipating a return to Sunday normality. Some time alone with a newspaper is one of the regular joys of the weekend. What I had not factored in was two dogs who have had two full weeks of an endless supply of cuddles from a bigger variety of people in the house. Regardless of our level of business or relaxation there has always been someone willing to give them on-demand cuddles, tickles, snacks, access to the yard or bracing walks. Just two of us is suddenly not quite enough for their wish fulfilment. The picture above looks either posed or a lucky moment with a handy camera phone. It was neither, just an absolute certainty. During my twenty minutes of attempting to read the paper this happened more than ten times. He needed nothing, but what he wanted was the undivided attention of the only human available. As soon as I took this picture I gave up reading the newspaper. As soon as I gave up reading the newspaper, he went to sleep on it. As soon as he went to sleep we took him on a walk. I’m not sure which of us is the victor. Only one person did a victory dance
