Keep a friend serene

[lizblackdog]

The Hoover idea helped, but my hoover cuts out if it overheats (and then won't start again for several hours), so an hour after the first pyrotechnics, with the bangs still going out there like a fucking war movie, I've had to switch the bastard thing off so it can cool down and just turn my speakers up to eleven.

it helps a little. of course between the hoover, the aggressive rock music (I'm on to Iggy Pop now) and the fireworks the cats are all hiding so Spike has no distractions. He's a small trembling heap over by the door. He's two-thirds of his normal size, all except his eyes which have doubled. He's off his face on Rescue Remedy which is stopping him barking himself hoarse.

I wish to fuck Guy Fawkes had succeeded. Not because I give a shit about far-reaching political implications (or even have an idea what they might be) but because then it might have been considered in bad taste to set off fucking explosions all fucking autumn.

am going to hug my collie now. bastards.

Edit: Bonus! I found out where those maggots were coming from. Fucking Cassie and her obsession with covering food dishes. She'd dragged a pair of my trousers out of the wardrobe, covered a half-empty food dish with it and bundled the whole thing behind the door, where I completely failed to find it till now. Am not attempting to salvage either trousers or food dish.

Comments

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

oh, poor poor mr. spike. :(

maggots might be my least favorite animal on this planet - second to land leeches.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

it's 10.25 and i think the worst of it is over - until next weekend, and the weekend after that, anyway.

it's one of the few things that really makes me envy american residents. apparently over here it's a godgiven inviolable right for every tom, dickhead and harry to be able to recreate an artillery barrage in his back garden from october to fucking january. makes me want to kill.

am in utter agreement about maggots. there weren't many, but it skeeved me out horribly that there were any at all. that was quite a decent pair of trousers but they went in the bin without a moment's hesitation.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

it's like that in some places here too - new hampshire comes to mind.

the worst was when i discovered maggots in the bin in the kitchen of my old house - i realized they were there because they were squirming enough to make the plastic bag rustle. EW.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

ah, i spoke too soon. 10.39 and someone approximately five houses away is starting up a full display. URGE TO KILL RISING.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

crap! :(

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

this is, for me, thw very worst aspect of the whole thing. because none of these are organised public displays, I have no idea when they're going to happen or where. As soon as it gets dark it can start at any moment, it can be halfway down the street or it can be fifty yards from my fucking window and the first I know about it is when it happens.

on nights that I know will be especially bad such as November 5th, the nearest Saturday to November 5th and New Year's Eve I take him to my mother's. he does better there. but if I'm unlucky ( and this happened last year) some fucker will set them off right over our heads while we're walking there. it wasn't even fucking dark yet.

they're supposed to stop after eleven. the RSPCA campaigned for years for some sort of control on the damn things and last year or the year before they finally got it made illegal to ste them off after 11pm.

but no one takes a blind bit of notice.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

that's great that your mum's house is a bit quiter and you can at least go there some of the time.

and it's amazing that the RSPCA was able to effect any kind of change at all!

my friend at work Alli has 3 dogs that go absolutely apeshit whenever there's a thunderstorm and she proactively (when she can) medicates them all. sometimes those storms are sneaky, though, and show up unexpectedly in the middle of the night and all hell breaks out in her house - horrible :(

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

yep. it's partly that mum's neighbours are a bit quieter (you wouldn't think a 20-minute walk away would make much difference but it does), partly that she has curtains, carpets, smaller windows and more soft furnishings than I do, and partly that she herself has Mommy pheromones and acts as a sort of human DAP diffuser - effective on dogs, cats, ferrets, hawks, old people, drunks and small children, from my direct observation.

i don't know what I'd do if they both reacted. thank the gods Squish doesn't care or my head would explode. your poor friend!

[scifi451.livejournal.com]

Cut this together from the V for Vendetta trailers. Seemed appropriate for your post-

Fireworks

[mcsassypants.livejournal.com]

Poor Spike.


And this might make me seem like the biggest dork ever, but why exactly are people setting off fireworks??

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

It used to just be for Guy Fawkes Night, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night) which is quite a big celebration over here. Then it became common to celebrate Halloween with fireworks parties too, and there've always been fireworks at New Year - so fireworks are on sale freely in supermarkets from October 2oth-ish right through till January.

So the real reason most of these people are setting off fireworks every weekend night and many weeknights between now and New Year is simply because they CAN. But Guy Fawkes is what started it.

[mcsassypants.livejournal.com]

ah. I understand now. I thought it was bad around here because fireworks are set off most of the summer (4th of July is an excuse, but it gets old around the middle of August).

[purplewaxhand.livejournal.com]

Give Spike a hug from me. Poor kid.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

He's had lots of hugs, poor baby.

he's resilient though. he's perfectly fine and bouncy this morning.

thanks :)