Aside from the many other potential categorizations, I think that the population of France can be neatly divided into two groups: the dog lovers and the dog haters.
With all due respect to my dog-owning readers (there are at least two of you), I must hereby confess that my place is firmly in the second group.
And my feelings towards "man's best friend" have been reinforced since this morning's little incident at the boulangerie.
To set the scene: it's freezing, it's snowy, the bakery's so busy that there's a long line of people waiting out on the street for their Sunday morning baguette. BB and I join the queue.
A dog-fanatic and his THREE yapping friends join the queue right behind us.
Dogs scare BB: hence he starts to cry. Wail. Yowl.
This is not the part I'm complaining about, let me stress. I'm not so intolerant I think people shouldn't be allowed to own dogs or anything, you understand.
The plot thickens when it's our turn to step over the threshold into the bready warmth of the boulangerie.
Dog-man follows us in, even though he really should have waited for the next customer to leave, and that's how we find ourselves squashed into a too-small space: me, BB, dog-man, the three yapping dogs and about fifteen other customers.
The dogs go crazy, yapping around BB's feet, which promptly sends my boy hysterical.
This is the point at which my legitimate grumble begins: see, dog-man does absolutely nothing. Surely he can see that my kid is scared, right? Surely he has noticed that every other customer in there is staring at my wailing child?
Because he continues to stare wonderously at his three furry friends, totally ignoring us, I blurt out: "Look, would you mind moving your dogs away from my son, please?"
I required nothing more than a contrite "oh sorry, of course, yes, I see now that he looks terrified", but in the event, all I get is a black look and an indignant "How dare you speak to me in that tone? My dogs have a right to exist you know!"
Blood boiling, I gear up for the showdown. I was willing to be reasonable, but now the words "dogs are not people, you know, for god's sake!" are just itching their way across my tongue.
I refrain, because anyway, dog-man has flounced out of the shop in a huff, three waggly bottoms in tow.
"Hum!" I exclaim haughtily, looking around for some support. You know, a sympathetic smile from the other customers, a "tut tut" or something of the sort.
Nope. Nada.
What I get is a sea of hostile faces, a few black looks and a mumbled comment that seems to include the word "intolerant".
So I slink away with my baguette under my arm and my sniffling child, and a cold wind of opposition follows me out of the shop and down the road... as dog-man re-enters to the warmth of a sympathetic crowd.
Dogs: 1
Kids: 0
2 comments:
Aren't you sure that BB did not bite the 3 gentle dogs? ;o)
I would had a 3rd category: people who like dogs but will keep them at the bottom of the hierarchy.
That's nice ;-)
Post a Comment