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author

Seeing this industry from a child’s point of view came to inform the way I felt about both dog and horse racing as an adult, as well as profiteering from the exploitation of any animal. I never saw anything truly terrible but the whole thing never sat right with me.

Greyhounds are wonderful loving, calm creatures and I’m glad that these days they seem to be valued for more than their monetary worth.

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That’s got to be a chapter of a book one day. I used to love watching greyhound racing on tv as a child. The chap who lived next door to us (with his Gran) as kids kept two racing greyhounds. I still remember their names, Fly and Goldie. I thought they were wonderful. Fly became a pet though as she hit a barrier racing and lost an eye. Thank you for uncovering that memory for me.

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author

I find it easier to write about my own life in bursts as and when things hold my interest. So far on here “The Benches”, “Falling for Texas”, possibly “My memories of when Diana died”(which talks of when I lived in Cyprus) and now this piece would fit into these categories. One day when there are enough, maybe I will knit together a book of their composite pieces.

It seems a more instinctive way to approach it. The idea of writing a whole book seems like such a dull chore but doing it this way is more fun for me and sustains my interest.

Glad it brought back some memories for you.

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founding

This is superb Julie. I could bang on about all the beats that you perfectly hit (weebles, smurfs, troll hair squash) but I’m apprehensive about hogging the comments section with my waffle. Suffice to say that this is a bittersweet tale of childhood innocence with hints of the coming-of-age, nascently naive awareness that we saw in “The Benches”. It speaks of the thin line between glamour and sleaze, caring and exploitation and between expectation and reality in general (how mundane our notions of the exotic can actually be? Though I do yearn for those fat, crisp chips that seem to have vanished from most Chinese menus).

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author

Thanks Christian.

So many tiny details come back to me. After I wrote it, I started remembering how they started to get arcade games like space invaders in there. Then I started thinking about ‘the traps’, how I didn’t like the idea of the dogs starting out in them, boxed in.

Yes it’s fair to say my childhood was a mixed bag. I don’t know how much you ever read of it when I used to put stuff on Twitter but there’s a fair bit of material to work with 😂 I may just alienate my entire family (the ones I haven’t already) in the process though 😂

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founding

No, our paths never crossed on Twitter. I was only just finding my feet there before I was exiled. Yes, arcade machines loom large in my memories, along with the sounds, smells, warmth and vibration of a launderette. How sophisticated and mature I felt to occasionally opt for a vending machine coffee over a game of Defender.

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That will be a great idea. Have a good Monday. X

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author

I recently found the two photos at the bottom at my mum’s and added them to the story. The black and white dog is ‘Darkie’. 💔

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