Robert@PNG

Meet one of my new friends…

His name is Simbad. He has adopted me as his friend. He has never had an “ex-pat” friend before. There are many dogs on campus (em plenti dok) and most of them are pretty ugly looking creatures. Flea ridled and starved. It is “mating” season at the moment and the dogs are having a “ball”. At times they hang around in packs and they fight and growl at each other. Some of them even chase me on my way to work or at the end of the day on my way home. Dogs everywhere. And you know what that means when there are lots of dogs ?   No cats !!!  Have only seen one or two cats since I arrived here and I wander if they are still alive. I'm glad now that I didn't bring “Bluey” with me although, the way she has taken “charge” at Alison's, she probably would have faired OK. Simbad has a mean bark and is one of the few Alsation looking dogs on campus, all the others are bitzas and dam ugly looking creatures they are. I mentioned before that they are flea riddled and this is interesting because I have never seen dogs wriggle there way into scratching positions like they do here. They contort into all sorts of positions to scratch themselves. Anyway, I like having animals around, especially Simbad, it's like an added level of security, for when I am not at home, Simbad is never far away. I give him something to eat every couple of days but I talk to him and give him a pat and tell him how much I like having him around. Truthfully, I don't think the nationals see dogs as pets. They can be quite cruel to animals. I don't let Simbad into the house, maybe one day I will give him his 1st wash and do something about those fleas, only then will I think about letting him into the house.

It's nice to have friends….