1. We go to the rescue centre expecting to meet one dog but end up meeting another one. We can’t stop stroking her back – it’s unbelievably soft.
2. In my mum & dad’s attic, I find games and toys from my childhood and John gushes that he had the same things too. We liberate an old chair, some board games, a soldering kit and vintage macrame shopping bag from their extraneous existence.
3. The drive home from Southport is always filled with chatter. Discussion in the dark.
1. The tree surgeon brings his dogs with him: the little girl watches her human and pines when he dips out of sight while the sleek but strong black lab pads about the garden carefree. Throughout the day, I nip out to check on them and to talk to them, and Katherine comes over earlier than planned to meet them too. I can’t wait until we have our own.
2. Sat up on the sofa, Joe looks almost like a real person.
3. I just don’t know how they make the onions so delicious. I could eat them all day.
1. Boron has inserted himself between us while we slept so when I wake up, he’s under the duvet, with his head resting on my pillow next to mine. We stay there for at least an hour until John wakes up and he purrs a deep, satisfied purr the whole time.
2. We decide to finally implement something we’ve been talking about for a couple of months – we go to the RSPCA to see about adopting a dog. We meet two boys who have lived with cats before and we’re encouraged to play with them and walk with them. As John walks away with the second dog, I tell the handler that I think John looks good with a dog at his side.
3. We head into Bradford city centre for lunch and some charity shopping. It’s been a while since we’ve been there on foot – certainly the first time since we moved to a BD postcode, but probably a couple of years before that even. On the way up to Oxfam, we notice that the nature of the city starts to change after Duke St: the big-name chains gives way to smaller, independent shops, and it feels like a first time visit to a small town instead of a familiar city.
4. The sound check runs late so we have to eat quickly – it’s a shame to gobble such lovely food. The soup starts out neat and orderly, all the additional ingredients in their own part of the bowl and enjoyed individually, but as I eat, it all gets mixed together and a fuller flavour is revealed.
5. Kev writes my name in the condensation on the window and as the evening proceeds, the letters streak until all that is left are vertical drip lines down the pane. Above, the red light turns the dull gold window frame into a surreal ruby.
“Leanne’s body was found by a man walking his dog in Lindley Wood, near Otley, West Yorkshire”
“Rebecca Storrs’ body was found by a man walking his dog on Saturday near a Bookers cash and carry”
“The body of Roxanne Diaz, 24, was found by a man walking his dog”
“On Wednesday, police announced that, based on dental records, the medical examiner had identified the remains, which had been found by a man walking his dog, as those of Chandra Levy”
“The Oscar-winner had the heart-breaking task of identifying Julian King, 7, after he was found by a man walking his dog”
“The body, with a single gunshot wound to the head, was found by a man walking his dog in the Glen of the Downs, Wicklow”
“They were found by a man walking his dog along Lake Esplanade on February 13. ‘If anyone has lost any gnomes, we’ve got them at the station,’ Hutt says”
© 2025 Louisa Parry