A sad day...

...in Dip Karpaz.

Not sure where to start with this post, so I will start with the sad end. My beloved Boysie decided to bow out of this world by head-butting the front of a car! I have to make light of it, because if I didn't, I'd be bawling my eyes out again.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have made two trips to visit my friends David and Eva, to drop off various bits of furniture they purchased from expats (There seems to be a bit of a mass exodus at the moment!) On the first trip, Boysie took ill with what we thought was heat stroke. He had me worrying myself sick as he disappeared into one of the surrounding fields not to return until just after midnight! It was the first time I prayed since I was twelve years of age.

Last Saturday I returned with the second load and that evening we planned to eat out. Boysie sat with us outside in the back garden as we watched a beautiful sunset, after which we planned to walk to the Damla Restaurant, which is no more than five minutes up the road. Boysie wandered into the undergrowth by the back door. We called him but he didn’t come out and must have hopped out without us noticing. We searched and called for him but he never appeared, so we decided to walk up to the restaurant thinking he would turn up and follow our scent. When we got there, the owners daughter said they had seen Boysie outside the restaurant no more than half an hour previous. That was the last time he was seen alive by those who knew him!

The magnificent Boysie, just before he saw his last sunset.

Boysie's resting place next to a young almond tree at the back of Eva and David's garden.

Boysie chilling with us as the sun went down.

Many years ago, I had a purebred German Shepard bitch called Bonnie, whose intelligence, gentleness and temperament, I believed, could never be surpassed. Well, Boysie proved me wrong. In the all too short space of time we shared our lives together, he was that bright shining shooting star we see up in the sky on a warm summer's night, which we will never forget. Everyone who had the pleasure of meeting him fell in love with him but nobody more so than I. Rest in peace my beloved Boysie.