Well yesterday suddenly got interesting. A new dog arrived. When I say dog, she is actually a girl but describing her in proper terms just doesn\u2019t really do her justice. She has the most beautiful long hair that flows when she moves. I said it was a sort of grey colour but apparently it is described as blue, frankly if she wanted to call it beetroot I would support it and agree. She has such a gentle personality but is always up to mischief and as for jumping, well I have never seen anything like it. I just sat in the gardening watching her bounce and was in complete awe of her bounds and leaps. I wanted to go up and introduce myself, as you do when you are a dog, but I suddenly felt all strange and wondered whether my coat was glossy and then felt all nervous. It was as though someone had tied my tummy in a knot. In the end she bounced in my general direction and I opened my mouth to say hello but nothing much more than a squeak came out. I eventually managed to say \u201cHi I\u2019m Alfie and you\u2019re beautiful\u201d then wondered why I had said something so stupid and embarrassing. Fortunately Chloe, as I found she was called, didn\u2019t seem to mind and came and sniffed me in an approving manner. I have seen a picture on our wall at home of a dog that looks quite like her so I asked if she was a bearded collie and she said she was. It gave us something to start the conversation as I told her that the dog my mistress had before me was a bearded collie so I have heard a little bit about them. Well that was it then, we spent the whole day together and it was amazing. Suddenly I didn\u2019t mind that my master and mistress had gone away without me and I was walking round as though I was on a cotton wool cloud. Chloe is two and was also born in Belgium but her owners are American so we laughed about some of the language problems and she said that it was even harder for her as her owners didn\u2019t even speak real English even though they thought they did. I asked her to give me some examples so she said \u201cWhat do you call the bit of ground you walk on next to the road?\u201d to which I answered \u201cpavement\u201d. \u201cThere\u201d she said, \u201cmy owners call it a sidewalk\u201d. It\u2019s like a dumbed down version of English, it is a side and you do walk on it but that doesn\u2019t mean you have to call it a sidewalk. Chloe said she had taught herself English, English because somehow it seemed more beautiful and I thought for her that was somehow rather appropriate.<\/p>\n
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