BUCHAREST

I'm off to Bucharest for five days with our boys' basketball team. I've already been warned to beware of the dogs in Bucharest, but it should be an interesting experience. I notice that McDonald's is here, so there's hope for civilization yet.I should add that I lived in Thailand for over twenty years and packs of wild homeless dogs also roam the streets, especially after dark in the upper end housing estates. They rule the roost from about 10pm onwards, making it impossible to walk or ride your bicycle in peace. Yet if you take the time to befriend them, an arduous risky process which I undertook one evening on the way home by whistling and calling gently to a wild pack of snarling, barking beasts, they become your loyal friends from that point onwards, rushing up towards you every time you appear in the night and jumping all over you with their mangy, flea ridden bodies. I wasn't sure what was worse, being threatened by these wild packs or being beloved, since some of them were very sick animals. Yet  underneath all the snarling, they were desperate for attention and affection and became fiercely protective of any human who took the time to break through the barriers and become their friend. There's a lesson here somewhere.

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