You may have noticed that I am an animal lover.
So you won’t be surprised that I can be easily distracted by a cute puppy or kitten.
The other evening, I was consulting outside. This is our new way of communicating in the veterinary profession. As I cannot be within two metres of a client in my consulting room, I go outside, stand two metres away, and share my opinion in the cold. It’s not very comfortable, but at least both the client and I are relatively safe.
But this particular evening, I glanced up as a colleague, Laura, came past. She had a puppy under each arm, and they looked especially cute and innocent nestled in her capable hands.
I apologised to my client for being momentarily distracted, and we re-started our discussion. I went back inside to examine their pet in the safe environment of the consulting room. Once I had made my diagnosis, I re-joined the client outside to communicate my plan to them.
The front door opened again, and Laura came out again. She had another similar but not identical pair of puppies, one under each arm again. Was I suffering from deja-vu? I resolutely turned away, even though what I really wanted to do was to snuggle those cute little faces and make a huge fuss of each of them.
I hoped my client hadn’t noticed.
Our conversation was a long one, as we had a lot to decide, and needed to discuss the pros and cons of each potential course of action. About ten minutes later the doorbell chimed again, and there was Laura coming past a third time. Two more puppies! This was too much!
It seems that another vet inside was vaccinating a whole new litter. I was seriously jealous. This means she got six little people to play with and fuss over in a row.
Luckily, my client is also an animal lover as well, of course, and was equally enchanted by the sight of Laura repeatedly going past with her precious burdens.
I wonder if 2020 will eventually be remembered not just as the year of COVID-19, but also as the year of the puppy?
