Haha.. that got your blood up, didn't it? Don't fret, Dear Readers, she cares not one toss about the people who bullied her as a child and woe betide anyone who tries to do it these days. They find themselves cut adrift immediately with no lifebelt.
No, the 'Bully' in the title of this post refers to a glorious canine known as Connie, her real name was Conchita something of something and she was a large white Bull Terrier bitch who belonged to a family who lived in Smarden, Kent.
My mama spent a lot of time with this family as they had ponies of all different sizes and during holidays and at week ends, she would cycle several miles across country to ride out, clean tack abd cycle back home again.. that's what children did in those days.. they were very fit.
Admittedly there wasn't the same amount of road traffic as there is these days, there weren't evil people lurking with nasty intent and the only scary things on the road were the South Eastern Milk trucks.
She knew Connie well and oh, what a funny (humerous) dog she was! If she liked you, you had to be careful bending down to talk to her as she had an alarming ability to levitate, so your head and Connie's head would meet 'BANG' and her head was pure bone! Stars were seen by many folk after being greeted by this highly eccentric dog.
At the same time as this, she had a dear friend with whom she was at school, Rosemary. Her parents farmed a large acreage near Benenden and had two of the biggest Mastiffs that were ever born! Crash and Ella, no one ever was stupid enough to try and burgle this family for everyone knew that these dogs lived outside.
Crash, the dog, was known to be 'pretty fierce' (gross understatement of all time) and his reputation was spread by many a Romany hop-picker who was unwise enough to come into the backyard or approach the house without a member of the family!
If he knew you, his bark was much worse than his bite and he liked nothing better than to lie on his back in the sunshine and for you to gently scratch or rub his tumtum and she has a charming picture in her memory of one of Rosemary's much younger siblings 'riding' Crash out to a paddock with Ella, the bitch, walking along beside her canine husband.
She rescued a Pigeon many years ago and called him Beep, as that was the noise he made when she first found him. And after she mended his foot, she put him back outside, he flew off quite happily and she saw him for about two weeks prancing up and down in the gardens.. he had a very distinctive mark on his left wing and so was easily recognisable.
Then one day, she opened the door to find him standing on the doorstep and as the door opened further, in shot Beep! She put him out, he came back in, this farce continued for a week.. so she gave up and had him in when she was in and put him out when she was out.. I regret to say that he slept in an old wicker basket in Dagga and her bedroom.
He loved the tops of doors, his favourites were YumYum HQ and the sitting room, as they're old doors and very thick, he would lie on them and watch her with his black beady eyes and fly after her if she went into another room.
If you spoke to him, he would answer with an 'oompa' noise that came from deep within his chest, he
loved several people, one of them being an old client of hers. She adored him and despite the fact that she was always dressed in the newest of the newest Chanel, she would sit on the sofa with Beep on her lap whilst she and mama talked about lighting, Beep's oompa-oompa noise getting progressively louder the longer she stroked him!
And grown-up friends have had animals of whom she has been very fond. A dear friend, Angela, had a glorious Flat Coated Retriever called Sasha. An extremely large specimen of her breed, she was a dog that was a great softy until you put a lead on her collar and took her out for a walk, whereupon, she turned into a complete delinquent!
Sasha was a rescue dog from Battersea and only God knows what had happened to her in her previous life, for on a lead she was worse than Denis-the-Menace. Very few people were game or brave enough to take Sasha for a walk, however, my mama adored this lunatic and volunteered on a regular basis to take her out.
Once into Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park and off the lead, she was as good as gold, always coming back when called and she would retrieve any amount of tennis balls that you cared to throw or hit for her, but producing her lead and attaching it to her collar turned this lovely dog into a villain!
She was 'well-known' by many a policeman stationed on the Earls Court Road as she walked up and down Abingdon Road five days a week on her way to the park, slavering at the mouth like a black 'wolf', barking and snarling all manner of filthy canine abuse at other dogs, any poor, unsuspecting person who was pushing a pram and as for people on bicycles, well, she loathed them and was paranoid with her hatred of these very obviously dodgy forms of transportation!
Indoors, she was the most loving and affectionate of dogs, even allowing Bumble, a Tibetan Terrier (or was she a Lhasa Apso) to occupy her bed but the whole neighbourhood and the cops did sigh a huge sigh of relief when the Donovans left for Wiltshire at the week-end!
She hasn't had a dog in her life since 1987, her beloved Honey-Bunch died on July 12th. Constance had dogs right up to the time of her death in October 2002, and, as much as my mama loved these two dogs, she gave them both to Mary Ireland when Constance was admitted into hospital.
For Tinker-Bell and Toby knew Mary well and they were country dogs, they had never been in a city in their lives and were used to being able to go out of a door straight into a garden or field.
Ahh.. animals.. past and present. Whose names all evoke memories.. Penny Cocker Spaniel, James Cat, Balu Labrador, three German Shepherds.. Ricky, Rolly and Rupert, Honey-Bunch Malinoise, Ridiculous Nicholas Dalmatian, Toby Whippet and Tinker-Bell Heinz, Darling Dagga, Peter and Beep Pigeon, Victoria Goat, BlueBoy Welsh Cob and Grey Judy Welsh Arab cross, Graf Doberman and dearest darling Connie Bull Terrier, the best 'Bully' therever was.
All of whom we know to be safely up there with Saint Francis along with Constance, Hugo (who died 35 years ago today) and Mary Ireland.. who was Connie's human mum.
Happy days animal folk.. happy days. Thank you for all the joy that you brought her.
GeeGee Parrot.
February 14th, 2016.
No, the 'Bully' in the title of this post refers to a glorious canine known as Connie, her real name was Conchita something of something and she was a large white Bull Terrier bitch who belonged to a family who lived in Smarden, Kent.
My mama spent a lot of time with this family as they had ponies of all different sizes and during holidays and at week ends, she would cycle several miles across country to ride out, clean tack abd cycle back home again.. that's what children did in those days.. they were very fit.
Admittedly there wasn't the same amount of road traffic as there is these days, there weren't evil people lurking with nasty intent and the only scary things on the road were the South Eastern Milk trucks.
She knew Connie well and oh, what a funny (humerous) dog she was! If she liked you, you had to be careful bending down to talk to her as she had an alarming ability to levitate, so your head and Connie's head would meet 'BANG' and her head was pure bone! Stars were seen by many folk after being greeted by this highly eccentric dog.
At the same time as this, she had a dear friend with whom she was at school, Rosemary. Her parents farmed a large acreage near Benenden and had two of the biggest Mastiffs that were ever born! Crash and Ella, no one ever was stupid enough to try and burgle this family for everyone knew that these dogs lived outside.
Crash, the dog, was known to be 'pretty fierce' (gross understatement of all time) and his reputation was spread by many a Romany hop-picker who was unwise enough to come into the backyard or approach the house without a member of the family!
If he knew you, his bark was much worse than his bite and he liked nothing better than to lie on his back in the sunshine and for you to gently scratch or rub his tumtum and she has a charming picture in her memory of one of Rosemary's much younger siblings 'riding' Crash out to a paddock with Ella, the bitch, walking along beside her canine husband.
She rescued a Pigeon many years ago and called him Beep, as that was the noise he made when she first found him. And after she mended his foot, she put him back outside, he flew off quite happily and she saw him for about two weeks prancing up and down in the gardens.. he had a very distinctive mark on his left wing and so was easily recognisable.
Then one day, she opened the door to find him standing on the doorstep and as the door opened further, in shot Beep! She put him out, he came back in, this farce continued for a week.. so she gave up and had him in when she was in and put him out when she was out.. I regret to say that he slept in an old wicker basket in Dagga and her bedroom.
He loved the tops of doors, his favourites were YumYum HQ and the sitting room, as they're old doors and very thick, he would lie on them and watch her with his black beady eyes and fly after her if she went into another room.
If you spoke to him, he would answer with an 'oompa' noise that came from deep within his chest, he
loved several people, one of them being an old client of hers. She adored him and despite the fact that she was always dressed in the newest of the newest Chanel, she would sit on the sofa with Beep on her lap whilst she and mama talked about lighting, Beep's oompa-oompa noise getting progressively louder the longer she stroked him!
And grown-up friends have had animals of whom she has been very fond. A dear friend, Angela, had a glorious Flat Coated Retriever called Sasha. An extremely large specimen of her breed, she was a dog that was a great softy until you put a lead on her collar and took her out for a walk, whereupon, she turned into a complete delinquent!
Sasha was a rescue dog from Battersea and only God knows what had happened to her in her previous life, for on a lead she was worse than Denis-the-Menace. Very few people were game or brave enough to take Sasha for a walk, however, my mama adored this lunatic and volunteered on a regular basis to take her out.
Once into Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park and off the lead, she was as good as gold, always coming back when called and she would retrieve any amount of tennis balls that you cared to throw or hit for her, but producing her lead and attaching it to her collar turned this lovely dog into a villain!
She was 'well-known' by many a policeman stationed on the Earls Court Road as she walked up and down Abingdon Road five days a week on her way to the park, slavering at the mouth like a black 'wolf', barking and snarling all manner of filthy canine abuse at other dogs, any poor, unsuspecting person who was pushing a pram and as for people on bicycles, well, she loathed them and was paranoid with her hatred of these very obviously dodgy forms of transportation!
Indoors, she was the most loving and affectionate of dogs, even allowing Bumble, a Tibetan Terrier (or was she a Lhasa Apso) to occupy her bed but the whole neighbourhood and the cops did sigh a huge sigh of relief when the Donovans left for Wiltshire at the week-end!
She hasn't had a dog in her life since 1987, her beloved Honey-Bunch died on July 12th. Constance had dogs right up to the time of her death in October 2002, and, as much as my mama loved these two dogs, she gave them both to Mary Ireland when Constance was admitted into hospital.
For Tinker-Bell and Toby knew Mary well and they were country dogs, they had never been in a city in their lives and were used to being able to go out of a door straight into a garden or field.
Ahh.. animals.. past and present. Whose names all evoke memories.. Penny Cocker Spaniel, James Cat, Balu Labrador, three German Shepherds.. Ricky, Rolly and Rupert, Honey-Bunch Malinoise, Ridiculous Nicholas Dalmatian, Toby Whippet and Tinker-Bell Heinz, Darling Dagga, Peter and Beep Pigeon, Victoria Goat, BlueBoy Welsh Cob and Grey Judy Welsh Arab cross, Graf Doberman and dearest darling Connie Bull Terrier, the best 'Bully' therever was.
All of whom we know to be safely up there with Saint Francis along with Constance, Hugo (who died 35 years ago today) and Mary Ireland.. who was Connie's human mum.
Happy days animal folk.. happy days. Thank you for all the joy that you brought her.
GeeGee Parrot.
February 14th, 2016.
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