The Mullingar Diaries

“His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain, 
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane. 
Without his life-long friend, puff could not be brave, 
So puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave.”

I love animals. I love the joy of watching them and the happiness of being around them. But one thing that makes me feel really uncomfortable is dead animals. I hate dead animals because I would rather they were alive. Since my very first day here I have noticed that the dogs around here seem to walk themselves. Out in Walshestown as well as in Mullingar it is not unusual to see a dog out on the streets by itself or with another dog and it makes me really uncomfortable. Around four or five years ago I was out walking with my parent’s dog Molly when we met another dog. It of course wanted to come over and say hello, but Molly didn’t like other dogs so after saying hello it decided to cross the road again. It was in the evening and there was only one car out on the road at that time, but that car didn’t see the dog and it hit it. The dog didn’t die but it was bleeding badly and its bones where broken in more than one place. Luckily the car stopped and the owner lived on the same street and had heard the thud and thought it was his dog. I just stood there with Molly looking at the dog totally numb. I just couldn’t move. The owner said that he wasn’t going to move the dog, because it was so badly injured that it would die within a few minutes most likely. I felt so bad for that dog that I cried the whole walk home and I still have the picture in my head of it just lying there not being able to move; still alive. It KILLS me! In some way it was like I had seen it coming when it walked onto the road and I heard the car and ever since that day I regret not calling the dog to me when I heard the car instead of just standing there watching it getting hit, because maybe it would have turned around and walked back to me. So I get very wary every time I see a dog in the streets, because I just don’t want to have another picture burnt in to my mind and I wish people would consider these things and not let their dogs run free and I believe it doesn’t matter how skilled the dogs are (obviously it might help them if they are skilled), but it might not save them in worse-case-scenario.

Yesterday I went for a walk when I saw a puppy running around happily with the tail swaying from side to side eagerly and it was running around on a road where you are allowed to drive 80 km/h. I believe that the dog must have got out somehow, since I don’t believe it’s in anyone's interest to let a puppy out of sight especially not if it has easy access to a road. Luckily it went under a fence and into a garden when I walked by and I just hope it lived in there and didn’t go out to the road again. But the thing is that two weeks ago I was out on another walk when I met a beautiful golden retriever walking around on a 80 km/h road too. It was so happy when it saw me that it just ran across the road to greet me and it would not have cared if a car came by and the car might not have been able to stop in time since the dog didn’t seem to have any intentions in crossing the road until it saw me; luckily no cars came. But the point is that my heart always stands still whenever I see animals on the roads and I always hope that they don’t see me, because especially dogs have a way of getting overly-excited when they see human beings, so you can never really trust them to stay where they are.  

While growing up I’ve had two hamsters, one died of natural causes I believe and the other’s eye popped out and it had to be put down. I remember picking it up from its cage and when I looked at it its eye had popped out of its head. I wanted to just drop it onto the floor, because it looked really disgusting, but I didn’t because I couldn’t treat it like that. It was put down the same day. After that we got a sweet black and white guinea pig called Bimmer. Unfortunately he didn’t live long because his teeth kept growing (I think) and it prevented him from eating so he was put down too. When I was twelve we got a dog, a black and white spaniel (springer I think, don’t know if she had some cocker in her too though). She was called Molly and she was the nicest dog ever. She didn’t like other dogs or humans and she wouldn’t go near them. A good thing about that was that I knew she wouldn’t bother anyone when I was walking her. She lived for ten happy years before she was put down due to sickness. After she died in 2012 my parents got a cute black and white field trial springer, called Bianca. She’s a real bandit. She is very active and she doesn’t always like it if you go near her, but she is really the cutest dog on earth and just like Molly she doesn’t like other dogs, but she likes humans though and she is just so happy when she meets someone. Some dogs have a way of making it seem like they have known people for years even though they have just met them.

From 2009-2013 I had two guinea pigs, My and Nimueh. I don’t know if they are alive still since I had to give them away before I moved here. But the thing is that no matter how small the pet has been or how long it has lived I have got attached to them and at least I know that none of the pets we have had in my family has had a painful death like the poor dog that was run over, just because they had forgotten to close the gate. And I think one thing that I fear more than seeing an animal get hit by a car is to actually be the one who hit it. I just hope that at some point things will change around Mullingar (and in Ireland, because I suppose Mullingar isn’t the only place with dogs running around freely). I just wish people would put a fence up and keep the gates closed, so at least their dogs can’t get out and I wish there was a way to keep cats of the roads too and still let them enjoy the nature.

I'm glad I've always taken loads of photos of the pets, because they are truly amazing and you just create such great memories with them and it's so nice to have pictures to remind you of them. So if not to brighten your day, then to brighten mine and my family's when we look at this blog.

Bianca and I.

Bianca

Molly

Bianca, Nimueh (black/brown) and My (white/brown)

Raffi, my brother Morten, and me. Raffi was my grandparents dog.

And even though I was just a kid I have loads of great memories of him. 

Bimmer, back in the days when we didn't have a digital camera.

Me and Effie, my brother's dog.

I'd like to dedicate this entry to a very lovely and sweet cat who was hit by a car last weekend (I'm not gonna put any name and picture up, because I'm not sure if I'm the right person to do that since it was not my cat). I just want people to be aware of the fact that so many cats and dogs use the smaller roads too.

This turned out longer than I had imagined and I actually had something else on my mind regarding hot water in Ireland I would have wanted to put in this entry, but that will have to wait. I also totally forgot to mention how this happened: Mullingar, as Danish writer Aprilia sees it

“When I look into the eyes of an animal I do not see an animal. I see a living being. I see a friend. I feel a soul.”

- Anthony Williams