be more (winter) dog

Hello, friends, it is I, BOB, the pint-sized labrador of wilful yet winning personality who lives with Tom and Kate. If you’ve not met me before, this is me on the left, bravely and capably retrieving an elusive BALL from a powerful wave.

For months now Kate has been blethering on about a CLUB, in which she is exploring different ways of making light of this time of year. So far, Kate has been doing this in ways that are both typical and incomprehensible: viz, alternating days of knitting with long hours reading poetry; becoming excited about something she’s found in a museum catalogue; poking about under trees in the garden, and standing outside in the pitch darkness, gazing upwards at the sky. Why didn’t she just come to me? For the tried and tested BOB method of MAKING LIGHT is so much simpler than any of this: all you need to do is to BE MORE (WINTER) DOG

Are you someone who struggles to get outdoors in sub-zero temperatures and gale force winds?

Does the prospect of picking your way over an ice-slicked beach in the frozen February half-light fill you with gloom and trepidation?

Fear not, friends, for I and my canine comrades are more than happy to provide you with some motivation!

The skies may be heavy, dark and grey. The wind may be approaching storm force, and there may be snow in the forecast. You must prepare yourself! Pull on the weighty hand-knit pullover, the cosy mittens, the puffy windproof jacket, the waterproof trousers, the winter boots, the whole shebang. And once you are suitably attired for these meteorological extremes, please come and join me on the beach.

If the tide is low and the sea is calm, we might see an otter, a pod of dolphins or a breaching orca!

While I rootle about for the crab shells that the gulls have left behind along the tideline, you might find your own treasure: an intriguingly striped pebble, mermaid’s purses, urchins, driftwood, sunstars. Remember the legendary beach aubergine? Or that inexplicably well-preserved head of broccoli, which I joyfully consumed?

Whatever the weather is doing, the sky is always shifting . . .

. . . and though there’s not all that much light in winter, its low-glancing angles and stark silhouettes have a certain something all their own.

You might have set out not really looking forward to the prospect of your walk, but ask yourself, has it ever not been worth it?

And, accompanying me, have you ever failed to be uplifted by the joy I find in simply being in this environment?

(I concede that on the days when I’ve unearthed and attempted to consume a long-dead seal that this uplifting feeling may be a bit more difficult to find)

But even in moments of frustration at my inevitable BOBNESS, you can throw a ball for brother Bran and me, and be astonished by our bravery and our skill!

For we dogs do not fear the winter.

We jump right in, and rise above its waves . . .

. . . dive through them . . .

. . . suffer them to break over our heads . . .

. . .and then get right back in again and surf them!

Dear humans, I am not suggesting you need to join your courageous canine companions in February’s cold waters

But in your approach to winter, why not just try to BE A BIT MORE DOG?

See you soon, love BOB