De Perros y Limones

Bindi

Bindi chilling on HER bed

Bindi is our youngest dog even though Luna acts like she is  the one.  She was named after the Indian forehead jewel because of prominent birthmark just above her eyes that shone out when she was a puppy.  We took her and her brother together after Sonalee had been smitten by a video that the largest Sri Lankan dog sanctuary had posted in order to find foster carers  – the sanctuary was full to the brim already.

Sonalee kept watching the video several times per evening until it came to the point when you just have let optimism take the place of reason and go and get the little tykes to, you know, just like, foster them for a while.  Nothing permanent.  Just till they can get adopted. 

  • Cats!

To be fair, Benji the boy was adorable in every way.  The softest of the soft with limp eyes that just drew you in.  I showed pictures around my school and it was my teaching assistant, Sandra, that decided to take him in.  After a trip across Colombo, arrival and then dog-vomiting on my nice t-shirt, Benji arrived at his new home and some kids who grinned when they saw him.  

I hope Benji is okay, I lost contact with Sandra when we moved.   We do wonder him when facebook chucks you back with their memory thing.  So we had Bindi.  I did the pictures around the school and the expat  football team that I managed but no one wanted her.  Bugger.  What to do?  There existed a woman in Sri Lanka who had become the owner of a hugely popular department store that made a lot of money.

She set up a charity venture that did free-puppies giveaways every month and advertised through her shop.  A lot of women that I knew were in awe of her โ€“ they were in what was a patriarchy and she was succeeding.  A lot of men in the media thought she was a lot of things, not many of them positive.  Her love of dogs was seen as a weakness.

La Plage

Anyway, we turned up one Saturday morning in their secondary site on a busy road in Colombo.  If you know Asian capital cities you will know what busy means โ€“ lots and lots of horn-blowing or, as Sri Lankans say, โ€˜horningโ€™.  There were three pens in the garden/garage of a really big house that the charity were using.  The pens were arranged in order of age of the puppy (Bindi was only 6 months old at this point).  The really young and cute ones were in the first pen and the older pups like Bindi were at the back in the third one.  The least loveable pups.

Bindi – Princess and skank

Sonalee and I left her with a pink bow around  her neck and looking as miserable as sin.  We buggered off to a pretentious cake shop that failed to live up to its own advertising โ€“ not an unusual thing in Colombo.  After a disappointing breakfast and a mooch around the posh shops that only a small percentage of people in Sri Lanka can afford to even walk through the door of, we returned to the pens where all of the Bindi group sat sadly untaken by smiling and happy children.  One young girl knelt down and stroked Bindiโ€™s face gently  but she was only granted this by a grandma who allowed the child to dream a little.

We waited another twenty minutes and could take it no longer.  No one else was coming.  No one else wanted her.  She knew it, we knew it.  I picked her up, paused for smiley photo for the charity and brought her home to be reunited with her family, most specifically  Tango the shitbag cat who shared a loving bond with her.  Bindi became a Foster-Fail.  She was now ours to keep.  She was going to Spain with us.  Add another couple of grand to our moving bill. 

Dora’s dawn

Bindi took to the campo with suspicion then joy and an endless fascination with anything that moved.  She was admired as โ€˜โ€™muy guapaโ€™ by the denizens of Bar Chico who knew what a good country dog should look like.  She hated the introduction of Luna and made that dislike known several times.  But, throughout, she kept looking for Tango and a chance to allow him to groom her.  She became a Princess.   Her naming  mark had faded away somewhat, which is a real shame.

Sonalee tinkling those ivories!

Bindi had always hated the car journey, anywhere.  She was not happy at being dragged into the van for a stupidly long journey one August morning last year.  She was given her own caged off part of the van, because she is a princess, but she wasnโ€™t happy especially after her first time on water across the Mediterranean and then more hours until arriving amongst the salt air of southern Rabat.  She was also missing her soul-mate, Tango.

The new normal?

Tango had died in the summer, a victim of nature so common in cats from Sri Lanka, a kidney breakdown that left Bindi desperately nudging her friend with her nose so that he could wake up on a hot July morning in Andalusia.  Tango tried to tell her with his yowls of pain and anguish but she couldnโ€™t understand โ€“ she just wanted to play again with her best mate. 

Bindi hasnโ€™t been the same since.  Neither have we. 

Dora on watch

She has continued to try to be the Princess she thinks she deserves to be.  She has her own way of digging in the garden and her own way of spreading out on the spare bed.  She finds herself in the kitchen first when eggs are being fried (nearly every day).  Bindi is the one who tarts it up when good-looking boy dogs appear on the beach but she disgraces herself when there is rotting garbage left that could, theoretically, still be eaten.  Do not check her breath after a walkies.

scheming!

She enthusiastically chases  cats, alongside Luna,  but hesitates at the bitey part because her love of Tango means that she just wants to be friends with them.  They hiss back and she takes princess-like offence.  She checks out fishermen all the time in the hope that they have some utterly terrible fish cast-offs to chew on.  She will spend ten minutes sniffing dung and ignoring you until there comes a point where she will strain every sinew to return to where you are.

It has not been easy for Bindi to find her way in the household.  She has struggled without her best mate, a cat, but she is now where she wants to be.  Lockdown has found herself being more appreciated.  She gets to spend all day with her family each day and this has been the best part of a time for her even as it has been a time of horribleness for so many people all over the world. 

Something vexes me!

If this time could continue for ever more, Bindi would be happy.  This is not the same for her mummy and daddy who know how lucky they are but who still wish they could drive home through a benevolent country, cross historically hostile water  to their village of people that they miss so much.  Bindi will be happy when she goes back to her forever sofa that lies dormant and cold without her in a house that has been suited for her and her siblings including the time I  spent a whole day sawing, drilling, sanding  and cursing just to install a dog-flap to get onto the lemon-treed patio. 

  • Beautiful Bindi

For now, though, we have lockdown.  It is tight.  No ambiguity.   Three checkpoints just to get to the supermarket.  No booze because its Ramadan.   The government have announced that no schools will open until September, which is kind of a relief given that no one knew what the Hell was happening before.  Now we know.

Luna watches the cliffs

It will be disappointing for all of the students (and staff) who are leaving and who wonโ€™t get the chance to say a bittersweet goodbye.   So, we officially have one more month of virtual school, including end of year  exams that students donโ€™t want, teachers certainly donโ€™t want but a percentage of parents who do want them.   The parents pay big bucks (or their embassies/companies do) and I think the school is quite anxious that they donโ€™t get calls for refunds for this time away from campus and classrooms. 

I read about the drive to open schools in the UK despite prevailing medical opinion being against it.  And then I laugh at the opinion of people who do not know schools or even children, trying to explain how they are going to get 4 and 5 year olds to keep socially distancing.  Mike, if youโ€™re reading this, good luck with that one!

The Police van watches for afternoon gatherings

Reported cases here in Morocco continue to stay very low compared to the UK so weโ€™re not sure what government rules will be announced on Monday when this latest Emergency Time is due to expire.  More of the same is the expected, probably for another month.  Weโ€™ve also read that Spain is starting to allow residents and citizens to return through designated ports โ€“ none of them on the Moroccan route yet.  We are quietly hopeful that we will be able to return home for at least a portion of the summer holiday. 

Our house

God, I miss football.  

Our beach

And bacon.  

Our dogs

Luna continues to be a PITA โ€“ she sauntered into the royal palace grounds last week but luckily the guards saw the funny side.   She has also invaded a building site, several gardens with people in them and the local shop where she charmed all involved.  Dora is busy being the queen bitch of the household and Dante still needs watching constantly whilst out for the morning walks. 

And exciting walkies

Sonalee is improving her piano with each new day and has baked bread!   Weโ€™re running out of the chewies that we give the dogs so I tried making scratchings for them to use as a substitute.   The bread came out far far better than the chewies which kind of lose their whole reason for being when Dante just swallows them whole and looks at me as if to say โ€˜is that it?โ€™.   Sonalee has just received her permission form to go out of the house officially.

She is so excited.  She gets to come supermarket shopping with me next week!

This is how life is here in Rabat, or rather the outskirts of Rabat.  Iโ€™m sitting here typing this and looking outside as the sun slowly goes down.  It isnโ€™t a bad way to spend lockdown.  If only we had some bacon.

Ayubowan,

Hasta Pronto, inshallah

Paul

PSย  We watched a documentary called 20 feet from stardom about backing singers.ย  It was excellent, ย especially the parts where they focussed on Merry Clayton and her contribution to the song Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones.ย  Then you kind of find yourself listening to them again and then marvelling at just how bloody good they were.ย  Oh yeah!

Paul

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