Hail to the Hive!

In a mater of weeks I'll be leaving the Philippines for pastures new and today my thoughts are of Layla, the unofficial dive shop dog.

She was left behind by the previous manager 7 years ago and has been a daily part of my life here at the Dive Centre from day one. Master manipulator & expert begger of food from the guests. Known to accompany them to whichever restaurant or eatery they were going to for lunch or dinner. She had a sixth sense for the suckers and dined out splendidly for years.

But now with no tourists about she's been struggling a bit. She's not really my dog and in reality she belongs to nobody, a free spirit if you will, but I've been looking after her recently (which I've never needed to do before as she was more than capable of looking after herself) as I noticed she's very depressed and getting thinner.

I've been wondering what will become of her when I leave as it doesn't appear anyone else had really taken any notice. One of my friends' Mark' came in yesterday with a massive lamb shank bone with still some meat on. oh boy was she in heaven. He also brought in some dog food to keep her going for a while.

Layla is no spring chicken anymore either. At a whopping 10 years of age the last thing she needs is this. I will need to find someone or some people that will agree to take care of her as she's a good sort with bags of personality and very smart.

I'd like to think she has a few more sunsets left in her long after I'm gone......