I had a moment the other day when I was driving down the road near my joint and there was a young dog loose on the road.
So, I pulled up and I sort of knew the dog.
It came to me – just like the feeling of déjà vu did.
Déjà vu is a French loanword for the phenomenon of feeling as though one has lived through the present situation before.
It is an illusion of memory, whereby – despite a strong sense of recollection – the time, place and context of the ‘previous’ experience are uncertain or impossible.
To explain: the house that the dog escaped from had a really colourful previous owner who had a ripping staffy that used to get out and sometimes lay on the road, stand in the middle of the road or casually walk across it at his own pace.
As far as the dog was concerned, it was his road and it was up to the rest of us to adapt.
Of course, this was decades ago.
In those days, it wasn’t as busy and we all did drive around him.
That’s apart from one night when I was driving home in my boss’ new Mercedes that was left in my care.
The dog was down the road, nowhere near his house.
So, I pulled up, opened the door and told him to jump in, which he did.
As I am driving along, patting him as he was sitting on the new seats, I could smell something awful.
Yep, you guessed it. My four-legged friend had rolled in something obscene and it was now all over the seat, my hand and the steering wheel. Awesome!
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So, back to the present.
Here I am with the dog. What to do with it?
No one looks to be home and the gate is open and immovable.
I knock on the door to make sure they aren’t home and the door is unlatched.
Hmm. I only have two choices: leave him to run around on the road or put him in the house and shut the door. I take the second option.
I go back about an hour later. No one home. He’s looking at me through the window.
I’m thinking: ‘What if he poos in the house?’
And I answer: ‘Poo in the house is better than a dead dog, and way better than a German car riddled with road kill.’
Footnote: happy ending. The owners returned, no poo, dog safe, me relieved.
Ashley Robinson is a columnist with Sunshine Coast News and My Weekly Preview. His views are his own.
