Darren and Pip

When I was in Chelsea earlier this week I passed this gentleman, sitting on the sidewalk with his dog. The dog was enthusiastically licking his face, which would have made a great picture, but of course it stopped when I did and eyed me warily. I asked the guy if I could take a photo anyway, and he said yes.

So here's a portrait of Darren and his dog Pip, who is 14. Darren sells "The Big Issue," a magazine that homeless or disadvantaged people purchase and then sell on for a profit. It's meant to give them a job rather than leaving them to panhandle on the street. Of course I bought one after our quick photo session.

When we talked about Pip's age, I told Darren I had a nearly ten-year-old staffy. "Oh, staffies can live a long time," he said, and told me he knows one that's 15 and another that reached the ripe old age of 21. That seems a little incredible, to be honest, but it was encouraging to hear!

I finally finished "David Copperfield" on Wednesday -- all 877 pages. Whenever I groused about the length (which I did even though I really enjoyed it) Dave would say, "But it's just a book about a magician."

He's kidding. I think.

I've been on a household cleaning spree. Our very damp winter caused a patch of black mold to appear in a corner of our living room. We've had this problem before -- I think the outer wall of the rear extension of our flat, which contains the living room, isn't sealed as well as it probably should be. Anyway, I wiped the area with some warm water and a bit of bleach, which seemed to clear it up for the time being. Mold is not something we want to tolerate.

I also vacuumed under our bed, which requires substantial moving of furniture. And once I did that I began seeing dust and grime elsewhere in the bedroom, so I eventually wound up cleaning all the windows and windowsills. I discovered that the lower bedroom windows open -- in the five-plus years that we've lived here, I don't think we ever realized that!

Somehow we left our shaving cream in Egypt. I'm bummed because it was a can of aloe vera Barbasol from the USA -- I try to bring one or two back whenever I go to the states. It's my brand of choice. (I could order it online but it costs about $10 a can, not including shipping, which seems ridiculous.) Anyway, now I just have the crappy German shaving cream I bought during my Buddhist retreat last spring. Oh well -- why not use it up, right?