Approaching Departures and Staffordshire Terriers

October is upon us and therefor it must surely be long past time for a blog post. It's early morning, dark and  cold outside, the leaves have begun to fall and the silence is only broken by the snore of Beatrix (the lovely terrier). I have been sleeping in patches and spurts for weeks now, no restful nights sleep for me, not when there is so much for my brain to be working on at all hours of the night.

It seems like only yesterday that we decided to fast-track the move to England, it seemed like an impossibly immense task at the time and honestly continues too, but I know we can do it now and I'm amazed at how much we've accomplished in a few short months. Yesterday was a true milestone, yesterday was the day we purchased our tickets to Heathrow. I was apprehensive, it was such a defining moment and something that couldn't be taken back, the true "oh my god, we're moving to England" moment. When I hung up the phone I expected to feel fear of the unknown, but instead I felt joy and it had not an ounce of fear in it. Then I remembered how small airline seats are and got to worrying about fitting in the blasted plane, I remember feeling snug last time I flew and that was a whole lot of pounds behind me. Ha! Behind me, ain't that the truth! I then made the mistake of goggling "Am I too fat to fly?", which led me to an exploration of Boeing 757 interiors on YouTube, which in turn led to "Smoke filled cabin" and "Plane crash". Apparently, because moving to the other side of the planet isn't stressful enough, I have to fill my mind with images of people enduring the worst moment of their lives; being asked to leave the plane because their arse is too big, can you imagine?

So, yes it's happening. We're moving to England in twenty-six days. We're taking our bikes, a few suitcases each and we're off to a small village just south of Bristol. It's an area I haven't spent much time in prior to now, but it looks beautiful and is made more welcoming by the presence of bikey friends that reside there. Moving just prior to winter isn't really the ideal time, but we'll make the best of it. I hear there are beautiful walking trails in the area and I tell you, England is in her full glory on a frosty morning nature walk, so I'll look forward to that. 

The most painful thing about the whole experience will be leaving our lovely red haired terrier, Miss Beatrix. I am loath to break my promise to her, when I told her she would always be with us after her past life of abuse, and how we would always love her and protect her, I never dreamed she would be a banned breed in my homeland. I feel like such a traitor. There are times in life when you have to make the truly hard decisions, the ones that will alter the path of everything you love and hold dear, this is one of those times. That being said, if Kyle and I were to die there are two people who stand clear above the others as the chosen guardians of our little boy, and thankfully they are not only willing, but joyous at the idea of adopting our little Beatrix too. I know they will love and adore, not to mention spoil her as they have been trying to kidnap her from us for years (to know Beatrix, is to love Beatrix.), many a time I have heard them jokingly whisper about shoving her in their trunk at departure time and hope we won't notice, so I think its safe to assume she won't suffer for lack of love in her life. But, it's also safe to say that breed restrictive bans are absurdly unfair to those of us who raise our dogs with love and affection. There will never be a time when someone can convince me that a dog is inherently dangerous based on it's appearance and jaw measurement, honestly if you are not aware of the positive attributes of the Bully Breeds, I recommend you go pet one today.

The sun is cresting the horizon and I hear the rustle of blankets in the next room. A little assistant will be joining me shortly, he likes to press buttons, so before the gibberish ensues I will bid you good-bye, until next time. -L