Dog Day
Thinking it would be an uneventful day (the plan was to relax at the guesthouse then wander in to the *walled city*), we didn’t expect to be posting anything.
Wander we did, in fact four of us (three eldest kids and Mama) wandered from 1:30 to 9:30, only sitting down for a few minutes for dinner. We got a photo of that, but not of much else. We are actually feeling a bit tired of doing the tourist thing, so I put the camera away and just enjoyed the day. It’s not that there was nothing to photograph, it’s just that I couldn’t be bothered and also that some of the things that were amazing a month ago have become commonplace now. There were plenty of crabs in buckets and birds in baskets and two toddlers splashing in another bucket on the side of the road beside their family’s flower stall and musicians begging and a Wat on every street and even an escalator that had been stopped for so long the bottom step was covered with dirt and you couldn’t see it any more.
Yes, there were things to photograph, but as we walked along the road we commented how it felt like we were on holiday. We put it down to three factors. The sky was clear blue. The morning had been relaxing. And there was no traffic noise as we wandered along the lane we are living on; just a few birds tweeting. It felt like we were camping.
But soon enough we were in the middle of a story. And by the end of the day there would be another one, both of them involving dogs.
K11 will tell…
We were walking along the road when a big fluffy dog appeared out of nowhere. It was a very friendly dog, but I was too scared to think that at the time. It was jumping up on us and chasing us. It jumped on me and jumped on Mum and chased us all, running round in circles and J14 screamed when it jumped on her and then she fell down the curb onto the road when she was trying to escape from it. Mum kept saying over and over, “Just keep walking. Don’t shout. Don’t run. Just keep walking.” But that was hard to do. A tuktuk driver pulled over and shouted at the dog. Luckily the dog spoke Thai, coz it listened and left us alone!
Later that evening (all the kids take over the telling)…
We were walking along the road when a big fluffy dog appeared out of nowhere. (J12 would like to use his new word *apparated*, but everyone else objects) and started following us. At the food stalls it would stop and pick up any scraps from the ground.
Suddenly we heard a lady on a motorbike scream and in an instant, which seemed to last forever, IT happened. The dog had run out on the road and she could see that she could not avoid it and hit it. Her bike skidded along the road, blue sparks flying out the back, the dog pushed along in front. She was right next to us and ER2 would talk about it for the rest of the way home. Another pedestrian ran to her assistance. He turned the motor off and helped pull the bike off the lady. She was able to stand up, but her trousers were all ripped. There was nothing we could do, so we kept walking home. Luckily the accident happened right in front of a hospital. The dog sat on the other side of the road on the steps of a Seven-11 store, yelping.
M6 decided that even though he has always wanted a motorbike, he doesn’t any more.
Tags: children, health, postcard: Thailand
rayres
i dont think motorbikes are as safe as cars
but they are neat to boys even 3 years olds like mine arent they
Praying that you have a refreshing sleep. Nice that you felt like you were on holiday 🙂
I am glad that the dog spoke Thai!
Your stories continue to fascinate. I too would have found it very hard to stay calm and keep walking when faced with a bouncing dog – friendly or not. And I’m with J12 when it comes to inventing new words – ‘apparated’ sounds pretty well on the button to me! I hope that is it for dog trauma and there are better things to fill the next days with. Your lanterns, and food experiences and baskets and elephants and … sigh! I am so envious. I just have busy, familiar work.
Do you realise J12 didn’t invent “apparate”? It’s a Harry Potter term 😀 It made me grin when I read it!
Big dogs can be scary even when they’re trying to be friendly. I had a huge St Bernard doing something similar once! Fortunately he did not try to jump up on me, or I surely would have fallen over under his weight. He just kept head-butting me and running into my legs and running around me.
Glad this dog was just a friendly one! 🙂
Maybe I should read Harry Potter!