A Very Special Anniversary!

Well done to Cecilia and to Paca! You both guessed correctly in your comments on my Monday post.

Today, 26th September 2024, is indeed the 25th Anniversary of Gail becoming a dog owner for the first time in her life.

It was just 4 months after she'd moved (for work) from London to Aberdeen, and from an upstairs flat to a house with an enclosed garden less than a mile from her office, and she decided it was time to satisfy a life long yearning and acquire a dog. 

As a child, her only pet had been a much loved guinea pig called Arthur. Friends and relatives had dogs and Gail thought she knew quite a lot about them, but really she didn't! 

She saw an advert for a three year old Westie in the local newspaper, phoned the owner, a farmer from near Fraserburgh whose accent Gail found impenetrable but was too embarrassed to admit it. She did figure out that the dog's name was Hamish and he was staying with the farmer's brother in Aberdeen, and she arranged to go to see him. 

This is Gail's diary entry for 26th September 1999 (you can enlarge the image).

For those of you who can't decipher Gail's handwriting, the short version is that Hamish came to live with Gail there and then. Yes there were some 'challenging' moments in the very early days, but Gail says she never regretted her decision. 

Here is Hamish in November 1999, down in Nottingham for a visit to Gail's parents (both sadly no longer alive). I wonder if  her Dad, then a youthful looking 78 years old, was entirely happy to have Hamish plonked on his lap?

Hamish lived with Gail for over a decade, and in his later years started a blog called, of course, Hamish the Westie, which is still live on the internet.

He had a calm temperament, a good 'starter dog' Gail says, albeit one with a hefty dose of that Westie stubbornness so typical of his breed.....

In 2010, when Hamish was coming to the end of his life, Gail could not imagine she would ever be able to find space in her heart for another dog. But after he was gone, she realised that a dog-shaped hole in the house badly needed filling, and in fairly short order there came a new puppy, Bouncing Bertie, whom many readers will remember well.

And after Bertie, in 2022, me!