I wish my dogs were capable of this...

dogs are equivalent to canaries in my mental mine-shaft

I'd decided a pint of Guinness was in order for St Paddy's day, and a friend and myself went to the Lion and Unicorn on gaisford street, with the dogs. It was only 6.30 but the place was fairly full, people in plush velvet 'pint' hats, little kids wearing green, golden Irish harps festooning the place. And very nice Irish stew on offer too, which was great, my dinner sorted out thank you. But there weren't any free spaces to sit in the main bit and it was too busy to stand, especially with three dogs on leads, so we sat where the dj was spinning his Irish tunes (the Waterboys, Kevin Rowland, the Pogues) and it was JUST TOO LOUD!!!!! The friend has a quiet speaking voice at the best of times, and this habit of starting conversations half-way through, as if you can divine what she's talking about through retroactive telepathy. I'm not omniscient though, so I always have to ask her what the hell she's talking about. Anyway, what with having to get her to repeat herself over and over again, when to be honest I really didn't want to talk, I'd rather just eat my stew, and the table being horribly wobbly and spilling her lager everywhere, which irritated me, and the dogs looking at me hungrily, I just felt more and more stressed out by the entire experience. Then there was this strange business of the man playing pool staring at us, not that I noticed, and my friend mouthing things to him and then saying my name as if that explained everything, and I was confused by this and asked if she knew him, and she said no she didn't but he'd been staring at us...and I said 'the last thing you should do is talk to someone who's staring at you! Look away!! Don't encourage them!'. 'Really, is that what you do?' 'Yes!'
I'm laughing about it now, and it was fine anyway, he didn't hassle us and he stopped staring, but it does make me wonder about people and how they get into strange situations out of politeness... 'Oh, mustn't be rude, mustn't upset people...' And then you end up being sucked into their craziness...

I was still eating my delicious Irish stew (home made and served with brown soda bread and butter) which my friend had declined (I think she didn't realise it was free) when Lucky, staring at me from the other side of the table, where she was sitting on the bench next to my friend, barked at me three times: short sharp little barks, 'give me some, give me some, give me some', and I, annoyed, gave her an answering three short sharp strikes across her nose. 'Shut up!!!!!!!!' My poor friend, sitting in the middle, was telling me 'No, don't, stop that', and told me off for reaching across her and practically hitting her too, and I apologised and said I knew she was right, but I was stressed out by the noise and that the poor dogs quite often get poor treatment from me when I'm in that kind of state, and I felt bad; but a part of me was thinking that it was her I was annoyed with, for having us sit down where it was so noisy, and for talking about things as if I knew all the background and history and plot and characters, and for not having any Irish stew, and for choosing a wobbly table, and and and and...

Really, I have got to avoid stressful situations. I much prefer when my dogs are happy and content and well-behaved, and I am too...