Home sick

How long have I lived in Ireland? Lightyears! At least 30 years anyway (And don't start about lightyears being a measure of distance, not time. You know what I mean, dear pedantic reader).

Anyway people still ask me if I am homesick:
'Are you homesick?'
'..eh  mumble..mumble..I have been here thirty years...more than thirty years'
'Then you must be really homesick!'

But I am not homesick. I live here now. My home that was is gone. It is in the past. I can't go back. This is my home now. I have no other home to go back to.

But my dogged well wishers will not let go:
'Must be terrible for you not have a home to go back to'

This is very Irish. Swedes don't (usually) ask their foreigners if they are home sick because Swedes are a confident people. They think if somebody has the good fortune to be washed up on their shores that person must surely feel so lucky that they will never pine for anywhere else ever again.
(Also they are not that into to intrusive small talk. They don't ask and they don't want to know).

Small dog does pee on pavement!

Long time-no dog blog!
So much to tell, so many dog days...where to begin? As I told you before people know you by your dog. You get a lot of attention because of your dog and most of the time the attention is welcome but sometimes not.
The other day my dog did a pee on the pavement. A householder rapped on his window from the inside moving his lips and shaking his fist. I stood to attention then spread my arms palms up. What did he want me to do?
 Lick it up?
Honestly.