The Famous Five

As a child I was an avid follower of the adventures of Julian, Dick, Anne, George and their dog Timothy. I had nothing in common with their life style and I didn’t even have a dog of my own; but I reread and lived every adventure of the Famous Five.

I can’t honestly remember wanting a dog of my own at that time, it certainly wasn’t a desperate longing; but I’m pretty sure that I spent time imagining how lovely it would be to share my own adventures with my own Timothy.

These days of course I can do just that; but in typical fact/fiction fashion it’s not always quite how I thought it would be. Who would have guessed for example that Bingley’s fifth birthday would be spent at the vets?! I don’t remember this ever happening to Timothy – though neither do I recall Timothy ever having a birthday.

Bingley sometimes eats things he really shouldn’t eat, which is something else I don’t remember Enid Blyton ever mentioning about Timothy. Oftentimes Bing can get away with his disgusting habit and we’re non the wiser; but every now and then its pay back time.

So this morning instead of singing Happy Birthday to our charming dog, Jane started the day by mopping the floor; and instead of a birthday photo-shoot, I spent a chunk of the morning sitting in a very hot surgery waiting to see the vet.

As for Bingley: there’s certainly no cake this birthday, in fact there’s no food at all until tomorrow when the fun really starts with oral syringes and unpleasant looking medicine.

Nevertheless, though I still don’t have much in common with the Famous Five, after five years I have to say that it’s great fun to be having our own adventures with Bingley. Usually!