Sunday 17th September, 2017                       2115

With no classes again tomorrow I arranged for Max and friend to come and scrub the place in the afternoon. I had promised dinner thrown in afterwards so had to move myself to go shopping. That longish walk to see if the drugs had worked.

Most assuredly there was pain. Muscular I would say, not surprising given my aversion to walking ever since the school trip! But the hip joint? Hardly any at all. No limp either. Whilst not constituting a miracle, the drugs have performed wonders, they simply took time to have an effect. I reckon long hikes may be off the menu now but then ever did I avoid those!

For now at least, injections are also off the list - start on those and that’s it for life and I am on enough “permanent resident” chemicals as it is without adding to them unless absolutely necessary!

No, the half an hour of perambulation I managed tonight is fine and probably the most I will do under normal circumstances anyway. The summer was a case of serving me right for mixing it with younger souls! I am very happy with what has been achieved.

Just before I got to the supermarket a pack of wild dogs ran on the pavement towards me. At the head of the pack was a male, medium to small and quite handsome. Unfortunately he was either involved in an accident at some point or was born deformed for his front left leg was emaciated and useless. He could still lope at a fair lick nonetheless.

On my way back I spotted him lying on his back, still on the pavement at the junction where you can turn down to buy fruit and vegetables. A child walking past made as though to launch a kick at the prone animal but a stern “no!“ halted him in his tracks. He (the dog, not the boy) was motionless except for a twitching of the affected limb. Concerned, I stopped and asked if he was ok. No, I know I don’t speak fluent dog but I have a working knowledge! He looked up at me, I saw no sign of injury (my concern was he had been hit crossing the little side road). I decided he was just resting and as his tortured leg had been flapping about as he ran previously, he needed to give it respite. I walked on.

After I crossed I glanced back and saw a group of students, three girls and a boy, had stopped to investigate. Thinking perhaps I had been wrong I returned, after all, we laowei have a reputation for being animal lovers! The mutt rolled over onto his front as I reassured the group using body language that the only problem was a gammy leg.

But in China it always gladdens me to see young people who care about animals. It gives me hope that eventually cruelty and the eating of dogs will be eradicated, you would not believe the increase I have witnessed in 7 years in the numbers of pet dogs. It is a pity the preference is for “Teddy” dogs, or fashion accessories. If only they would adopt feral puppies, have them neutered and in so doing drastically reduce the numbers of strays. Small steps.

I keep having to check BBC news this evening. The air raid sirens sporadically give off short blasts. Not only has nothing been said to me (how unusual) but tests are normally in daylight. I keep thinking Trump and Fatty have kicked off.