I read an article yesterday that presented very strong new evidence that a positive attitude to ageing is in itself enough to extend your lifespan by a number of years.
With that in mind, I am making a play for the role of local mad old dog lady. These characters belong in the same broad social grouping as mad old cat ladies – ie people that would have been burnt at the stake in a previous era – but tend to get out more.
In recent weeks I have made myself notable by taking three small poorly trained ‘oodles out for shambolic walks, and more lately I have upped my game by adding an element of water sports. With the increasing temperatures, I have been taking the dogs for swims. They aren’t huge fans of the water, but will follow me anywhere, so when I go for a swim, they come after me. This is all very well going across a river, but not so sensible in the sea. When they realize it’s deep and there are waves and no shore nearby, they all try to climb on top of me, which doesn’t end well. I usually stick to the river.
The past few days, I’ve added a kayak to the mix. It turns out I can fit all three pooches onto one sit-on-top. When we are out and about like this, we draw large crowds who point and laugh in an admiring way. People have even been taking our pictures, so perhaps we are appearing on Facebook or Twitter? Although this does give me a small feeling of unease – the same anxiety I get when I spot a police car while out driving. It’s not illegal having three dogs on a canoe, is it?
