Liz Jones's Diary: In which there's a new man in my life
I can’t help but think of him, abandoned and now in a kill 避難所?
?I have a hot date this 週末. I’ve bought food. A little outfit.
What I 港／避難所’t done is waxed, plucked, tanned, jogged, threaded or dyed. Because my new man is, you guessed it, a 国境 collie!
During lockdown, I had been in touch with a lovely woman called Stef, who runs a small animal-救助（する） charity. She lives in Durham ? not that far from me ? so I had 申し込む／申し出d her lots of old horse rugs I no longer use. The sight of Dream the pony’s tiny outfits still hanging in the tack room broke my heart (she died four years ago). Stef mostly 救助（する）s dogs, and sent me a photo of a male collie, 拘留するd in a kill 避難所 in Romania.
He reminds me of my first collie, Sam. He looks very 脅すd. Beautiful, beady 注目する，もくろむs, like a teddy. So I decide that I will have him, and that I will 指名する him Teddy.
I wait for what seems like a year then, on Thursday, I got a text ? ‘He is on his way!’ ? …を伴ってd by a photo of him, cowering and dejected, in a crate in the 先頭. He has filthy paws and what looks like an 注目する，もくろむ 感染.
Teddy in? the 避難所?
And so I have been hurrying around, like an expectant mum. I’ve bought him a 指名する tag, collar, lead and harness, although I have no idea what size he is. My 最新の 救助（する）, Missy, is as small as a cat. Not one of my three collie girls is 平易な. 小型の gets jealous if I even say the 指名する of another dog; she is like my ex-boyfriend in that 尊敬（する）・点. Gracie is now incontinent, so has to sleep on a nappy pad, which she chews. Missy doesn’t like wheelbarrows, the hosepipe, me running a bath, rain, 雷鳴, the crackle of a スピードを出す／記録につける on the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. If any of those things happen, we get the tail between the 脚s. She doesn’t even like walks. She will just stop, 星／主役にする, dig in her paws and 辞退する to go any その上の. When I finally give in and turn for home, she hares off at 最高の，を越す 速度(を上げる）. All she wants is to be in her basket.
I don’t really want another dog, but I couldn’t 耐える to imagine Teddy stuck in a pen in Romania, with the 気温 井戸／弁護士席 below 無, frozen and alone over Christmas. I’m now waiting for the text to say he has landed, a furry 難民. I can’t help but think of the people who 溺死するd in the English Channel. The children. The 妊娠している woman. No one was waiting for them with a box 十分な of toys and human food from Waitrose, as I am for Teddy. I want him to open his 注目する，もくろむs on Christmas Day and know that he is loved.
Teddy settling in? at home?
It’s now Sunday. I got a text! ‘They are through the Channel Tunnel!’ Stef sends me a 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of who’s on board, with ETAs. There are 21 指名するs. Scrappy. Maggie. Monica. So many little lives about to be transformed. And there is my collie, 近づく the 底（に届く）, 予定 to arrive on Monday at 10.50am. Once more I can’t help but think of him, having been abandoned, in a kill 避難所, now in a 先頭, and what must be his thoughts: Will I 会合，会う my mummy at the end of this? Will I know it’s Christmas time at all?
It’s now Monday afternoon. Poor Teddy has been travelling for four days. I’m a 捕らえる、獲得する of 神経s. A 先頭 pulls up. It says 輸送（する） Animale on the 味方する. Oh dear god. A young man gets out. He 手渡すs me the doggy パスポート and takes my slip lead to put it on.
He 現れるs, carrying the most enormous collie I have ever seen. Teddy is 存在 carried as he’s too 脅すd to walk. Placed on the ground, he just crouches. He is carried inside. 小型の 明らかにするs her teeth, jealous. I give him a bowl of water and he （競技場の）トラック一周s greedily.
I wonder how I am going to get him into the garden. I have never met a more nervous dog. He doesn’t even know his 指名する. He doesn’t yet know that he is 安全な.
You can follow Stef on Twitter
@Stefsrescue
8 1/2 石／投石する, Liz Jones's debut novel, is 利用できる as an audiobook on アマゾン and Au dible. Coming soon to Spotify, Apple 調書をとる／予約するs and all usual 出口s?
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- ?接触する Liz at lizjonesgoddess.com and stalk her @lizjonesgoddess?
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Join Liz and her trusty (long-苦しむing) assistant Nicola as they dissect her 週刊誌 YOU magazine diary and delve into the 古記録s to relive the 破産した／（警察が）手入れする-ups, betrayals, 弾丸s… and much more in this brilliant podcast. They’re outspoken, outrageous and utterly hilarious. Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and mailplus.co.uk
