JOE

 

Do you remember our dog Joe? A real character who was either loved or loathed by our friends and neighbours.

Where did he come from? Perhaps he just moved in one day when Mum wasn’t looking  and decided that he was happy to live under the kitchen table.

However he came to be at number 27 he soon made his presence felt and no one dared to put their hand under the table.

Apart from that he was a pretty amiable dog so long as he was patted and made a fuss of.

Here is dressed up in a pair of navy blue knickers, a tie and an eyeshade. WHY I hear you ask?

 

That is little Janice Symons with blonde curly hair but I don’t know who the other girl is – do you?

Love the shorts!!

 

He loved to fetch anything  everything and Tony used to take him over the Rec to retrieve his golf balls I remember. Didn’t do the balls a lot of  good though.

He also joined in our games – here he is being a fielder in the road along with Barry Symons, Bobby Chambers me & my Dad. That’s an “action” shot of me catching the ball and Gloria hitting it.

 

I can’t quite see who the other fielder is let’s look at another photo.

Umm, still not sure – could be Clive Williams or Kenny Laughton but the wicket keeper is Wally Chambers I think.

Joe was a full blooded ( randy) male and quite often disappeared fro a few days returning home to eat and sleep and recharge his batteries.

Mum & I were in the kitchen one day when we saw this policeman walking purposefully towards our bungalow. “ Is your dog here” he asked – yes says Mum pointing to under the table. “ Well, I have to tell you that last night he broke out of jail. Mrs Crochety- Patch up on Silver Street complained that he was worrying her bitch so we locked him up for the night. When we checked up on him this morning he had jumped through the window. We will be sending a bill in due course!”

Although Joe officially lived at number 27 he actually belonged to Summervale and many neighbours fed him and encouraged him into their homes. This proved quite a headache when we moved to Paignton as it didn’t take him long to suss out where all his favourites lived – the Hewitts being top of the list.

Again he disappeared for a day, no one had seen him and we did start to worry. Then dad got a phone call at work - “have you got a dog called Joe?” Yes, said Dad. “Well, he is here on Taunton Station and would someone come & collect him. Taunton? Sixty odd miles away. How on earth did he get there.

Apparently, he followed someone from Spencer Road down to Paignton Station, got on the train and was dragged off at Taunton by a guard. He could have ended up at Paddington.

 

One final story for today was when he followed me down town when I went to meet a boyfriend! I tried very hard to ignore him but he just kept trotting behind us. We walked round the harbour and suddenly he disappeared – AGAIN. Then I heard him barking, I looked over the railing & there he was on the rocks  with the tide coming in at a hell of a pace. He will swim off the rocks in a moment I thought but no, he just kept barking. What could I do?

I took off my shoes and hitched up my skirt and waded into the water; As soon as I was within reach, he jumped into the water, soaking me in the process, and swam to shore.

And I went on to have more dogs – Yes mad I know.

JJ