Friday 29 January 2010

New Moon and some goodbyes…

As I mentioned in an earlier blog my husband gave me 'Eclipse' for a Xmas present and I didn't feel I could start reading it until I had read 'New Moon'. So, armed with my trusty credit card, I ordered New Moon and had it sent over to Spain and it has finally arrived - hurrah! I am now about a third of the way through and I am surprised that I am enjoying it. I am a bit disappointed that Edward seems to have disappeared (though still seems to be controlling Bella through some weird psychic talking), and, like Twilight, nothing much has really happened, but it is quite nice to be able to lose myself in something easy to read right now. I did get a little annoyed at Bella's moping around (pull yourself together girl!), but I am hoping that her random motorbike riding might be the start of a new, tougher, Bella. -new-moon-stephenie-meyer

Anyway, I will be sure to let you know what I think when I have finished it.

It was a sad day today as I had to say goodbye to a couple of good friends who unfortunately can't use facebook or email to stay in touch - our dogs. Admittedly one was a little stray who we have been trying to find a home for for sometime now, so the good bye to him should be a happy one as he has been taken in by a foster family before he goes to his new home.

One thing I hate about Spain is how they treat their animals. Of course I am not talking for everyone and there are always exceptions to the rule, but many of the Spanish don't believe in neutering their animals which leads to packs of stray dogs wandering the streets.

Our little stray turned up on our street during the summer and the summer people next door to us started feeding him. This was all well and good, but when they went home two weeks later they left the little dog wondering where his meals had gone. Our only options were to be either continue feeding him or drive him to another part of town and throw him out. We are far too soft to do the second option so naturally we continued to feed him and he quickly made friends with our dog.

Now we are heading back and one of the very small animal charities here has found him a home. These people survive only on donations; doing car boot sales with other people's 'junk' and then using the money to get the dogs chipped, vaccinated, and neutered and then placed in a new home. They are wonderful people and I am so grateful that there are people like this in the world who will give so much of their time to helping these poor animals.

Our own dog has gone into kennels while we wait for her pet passport to come through. One piece of advice I would give anyone living abroad who also has pets is make sure your pet passports are up-to-date. You never know what is going to happen and if you have to go back to the UK unexpectedly then it is a long old process to get them renewed. The whole process takes seven months from start to finish. We were not prepared so our dog is now in kennels until her passport comes through and then she will join us in the UK. In the meantime my poor husband is painting the kennels she will be in as payment for her food and board. He keeps joking that it is one thing working to keep a roof over his wife and child's head, but he can't believe he is working for his dog! It's not even though you can hold it over her when she gets older.

On a work front I am getting into some serious editing for my novel which is due out in May. I find it really interesting to work with a different editor and to get her points of view on my writing. Though it is always hard to have your bad habits pointed out, I am sure the whole process will make for a much better book and hopefully I will learn and become a better writer for it.

Mx

2 comments:

  1. Too sad about your puppies! But you will see yours again, and that's good you found a home for the other one. I remember something similar when I visited Greece -- there were un-fixed cats EVERYWHERE! And I'm a cat person, but after a while you do wonder who feeds them all...

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  2. Oh, the cats are here too, but it is the dogs that seem to get the worst deal. Our two cats are staying with my parents until their pet passports come through, so I am currently living with five cats (they already had three rescues) and am trying to play ref as they fight out the new living situation between them!

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