This could take all night

Today’s Wednesday Whoo comes to you with the Foo Fighters and Learning to Fly

This video has three of my favourite things. First, the Foo Fighters and the almight Dave Grohl. Second Jack Black. Third a great tune. I love Jack Black. Nacho Libre is one of my two go-to movies for duvet days, that and Cool Runnings. You can’t beat a bit of cheesy triumph over adversity to make you feel better.

Following weeks where I have found it very hard to be appreciative of very much, it seems like spring is on its way in (thought it poured down yesterday) and the world is conspiring to send positive signs. From butterflies to rainbows, from bright yellow gorse blossom to the early blossom of the first spring trees, the world is waking up again.

This pair are my first reason to smile in the day, and usually my last smile at night. There is never a time I am sad to be home to see Heston waiting for me in the window and Tilly standing on the back of the sofa looking a little worried like I might not be who I seem to be. There is never a time I don’t find myself smiling to see Heston lying on his back, legs outstretched, totally relaxed, or feeling happy to find a little hot, stinky spaniel right up next to me.

This week is also a good week for me because although it is my holidays (well, reduced hours for me, if not days off!) I get to spend more time at the refuge than usual. I can’t tell you how great a feeling it is to know I am going here – it never feels like a chore. It’s like walking in to a bar filled with great creatures. The longer I am alive, the more amazing dogs seem to me. Why they don’t take the faces off the owners who beat them is my number one reason they are amazing. That they trust humans again after unspeakable tragedies is a wonder to me.

This is Sirius. Someone hacked his ear off because it was probably tattooed and could identify them. He’s a great dog. He’s the remaining one of my top five favourites from January. That gives me a great feeling of happiness too, because four of my favourite dogs have been adopted in a month – all of whom were great dogs and deserved a great home. Sirius is my current favourite. If anyone tried to chop my ear off, I’d not be so glad to see the species that did it. And yet he is a happy chap. He is ten and comes with a 600€ vet’s allowance because he’s a senior.

And this is Maya. Maya’s story is incredibly sad. She was found in a house not far from here, having been abandoned. She was one of several animals, including goats and cats, and several dogs had already died on the premises before the gendarmes and refuge were called. She was so ill that she could not stand on her own for weeks. In order to survive, she had probably had to eat her own puppies, no doubt born in the weeks before the dogs were discovered.

This is Maya three weeks after she first arrived – you can see she is a little wobbly, but you can also see how happy she is too. From the beginning, it was touch and go – I’m not linking to the first images from the animals’ discovery because it’s very distressing, but this is Maya and her son Doudou (along with some of the other rescue animals from this same case of maltreatment) a couple of weeks after their rescue. Now she has been adopted by a refuge director and she comes to the refuge virtually every day where she wanders around freely and if you are lucky she will come over and give you a kiss. That is always the best part of my visit.

If the weather is good, my Mondays and Fridays are refuge days. You can see why I love going here. I might not be able to take all 150-odd dogs home, but I can certainly join in to make their day a little nicer. And one day, I hope to go and see no familiar faces at all. Now that would be nice.