The London community

The general view is that the residents of London are isolated, self-focused, uncaring individuals, not a community. Nonsense.

My lovely neighbour and dog-sitter, already working for a tiny hourly rate, insisted on giving me back £10 of what I paid her yesterday (which included an overnight stay), and has volunteered to have Champ for a small sum each week - "the gas money" she calls it.

I already had considerable faith in human nature, but this has further boosted it.

(Unfortunately, with Champ in terms of leaving him on his own, it is one step forward and one back. He is a little better about being in the room on his own, and I can get out the door for about 30 seconds before he starts whining, but I did a 30-minute test with a tape-recorder running this afternoon and he howled and whined loudly at regular intervals - 30s to a minute - throughout. He just is not happy on his own.)