Canine Chance to Shine and a Spooky House

...for Pip and Gromit maybe?! Take a look at this delightful report. I feel that mans best friend is getting a chance of a lifetime... If only there was a chance of being able to train the dogs I know to do ANYTHING on command! For treats... now thats a different matter!

On a totally different note, I am currently incredibly nosey when it comes to peoples front gardens. This all stems from the fact that to get to work I walk along a fairly bog-standard residential road, all bland, mostly well-kept semi-detached houses. The main difference between any of the houses is what the owners have done to the front gardens... But there's one that stands out as disturbing. Imagine, if you will, a 1930s semi-detached house with no garage. The white paint on the bay windows has turned grey and the wooden window frames are completely wrotten. Parked down the side of the house is a VW Camper van which looks like it was silver, but due to being parked under a tree for what I assume has been at least 20 years, is a patchy sludgy green colour. It leans to one side as if the tyres are completely flat. It looks like it's there to stay, or at least until corrosion turns it to dust. The whole of the front of the house is shrouded by an overgrown knarled and knotty tree. The net curtains in the windows hang crooked and yellowed. The strangest thing of all though is the driveway; there is just a thick carpet of white, green and blue broken glass leading up to the front door step... a rudementary security measure perhaps.

It made me wonder about what has happened to someone to make them create such a hostile looking facade to their house. Are they deeply paranoid and reclusive? Is it the house of someone who is desperately trying to preserve an older time and doesn't want change? Is it an art installation? Does anyone actually live there? Then the other day as I walked to catch my train I noticed there was a man in the front, tending to the broken glass, picking up any stray shards and chucking them back with the rest. It was a warm day and most people weren't wearing coats, but this man was wearing a thick anorak and a black wooly hat. He seems totally harmless, and most likely to be a lonely introvert. The VW van and all the other things just make me wonder about him... what kind of life has he had, and was he always like this? I think probably not. The hostile look of the house certainly puts me off even looking at it for too long, let alone going up to the front door. The quiet intimidation certainly has its desired effect.

Maybe I should respect his wishes and not notice the house. But I can't be the only person who looks at the house and wonders.

More anon