Episode 9 – Dante and Phoebe go to London
Dante has a brother called BooBoo, who lives in a place called Notting Hill in London. He’s two years older than Dante but they saw lots of each other when Dante was little. Booboo looked out for his “little bro”, as he calls him, when Dante was a baby and growing into his paws. This was before life changed and Dante moved to Camber.
Dante often thinks about his brother and loves it when BooBoo comes to the beach, or they go for a pub lunch at the Galleon Pub. Dante had been thinking about Booboo more than usual recently and realised they hadn’t seen each other for quite a while. He’d also not received a positive thought from him for ages so felt it was time they caught up. Without putting it off any longer he sent Booboo a positive thought saying he would like to come and stay.
Dante knew there wasn’t enough room for all the Camberdoodles at BooBoo’s house, so thought perhaps he should go alone. But then he remembered he didn’t like travelling on his own, because he gets lonely with nobody to talk to. So who could he take with him?
He knew that if he took DeDe she would spend all her time shopping and make him carry her bags, so he didn’t want to suggest she came. He knew Chislehurst was quite close to London so perhaps Lily-Poo could meet him there, but who would keep him company on the journey?
Dante knew BooBoo was looking for a girlfriend so it might be a nice idea to see if Phoebe would like to come with him. Dante knew he would enjoy spending time with Phoebe as she was always very easy to talk to. The only problem might be that she wouldn’t have time to have a bath before they left. If she came to London all muddy, the Londoners might notice they were “up from the country” and they would stand out as being different. Although Dante knew he shouldn’t worry about being different, he found it difficult and always preferred to blend in.
After a minute he decided to send Phoebe a positive thought to see if she would like to visit BooBoo in London. Although she’d never met BooBoo or been to London before, Phoebe replied In a flash, saying that she thought it was a lovely idea, and asked when they would be going. Up until now Dante hadn’t given much thought as to when they might actually go to London, it had been more about the planning and imagining than the doing.
He glanced at the wall calendar and saw that the next three days didn’t have scribbles in them. This meant there wasn’t a doodle meet on Camber or a hair cut coming up. These were the only two happenings that the furless two legs put in his calendar, so there was no reason he couldn’t go tomorrow. He quickly sent Phoebe another positive thought saying they were going in the morning. He added that he was going to have a long soak in the bath, so he looked smart for the trip, as he hoped this would encourage Phoebe to have one too.
After his bath and before going to bed Dante sent Lily-Poo a positive thought asking if she would like to meet him and Phoebe in London. She also replied in a flash, saying she needed to collect a coat that had been altered from a little seamstress in Bond Street, in the West End, so that would work beautifully for her.
Lily-Poo quickly added that she didn’t want the others to know she was having her coat altered, because that might think she’d put on a little weight. Which of course was not the case. The problem, she felt was the coat had been made a little small and had nothing to do with her adding a couple of pounds here and there.
Dante was confused about Lily-Poo’s message, he wasn’t sure what the West End was or why she was keen to keep her coat size a secret. Anyway he gave her BooBoo’s address and said to meet them there at lunch time tomorrow. Dante knew that London doodles were sophisticated and often ‘did lunch’ so Lily-Poo would be impressed with that idea.
Early the next morning Phoebe and Dante jumped on Billy to go to London. Billy was unusually full with no seats anywhere so they had to stand by the big doors, and hope they didn’t fall over as the train went around corners. Luckily after a while some children got off so they quickly jumped on the seats and settled down for the rest of the journey.
As Billy got nearer London they noticed the buildings get taller and the roads full of cars, which didn’t seem to move. They couldn’t understand why furless two legs would want to sit in their cars and go nowhere. At home near the beach the cars actually went somewhere, which seemed so much more sensible.
After what seemed a very long time they finally arrived at London Bridge Station. When the train had come to a full stop the doors opened and they jumped off. At the barrier a very kind two legs helped Phoebe find her correct ticket, because at first she’d tried to show him the ticket that said London to Camber, rather than Camber to London. Luckily Dante chose the right ticket and the furless two legs let them both through the barrier saying, ‘thank you and have a safe onward journey”
Once they were through the ticket barrier they put their tickets away safely before deciding whether to try for the underground or get a taxi to take them to BooBoo’s house. They decided the underground would be the most fun, but when they saw the moving stairs that took them to the train they decided a taxi would be preferable. It was easy for the furless two legs to get on and off the moving stairs but when you have four legs it’s so much more difficult.
When they got outside the station there were lots of furless two legs waiting for taxis, luckily they saw a tall, smartly dressed doodle who looked as if he was going to his office. While they were waiting their turn in the queue the smart doodle politely asked if they’d care to share a taxi with him. Phoebe thought this was a very kind offer and quickly said, ‘oh thank you, how very kind I’m sure’. Dante had never heard Phoebe talk like this and hoped she wasn’t ill or anything.
When they’d settled down into the taxi the smart doodle introduced himself as Samuel Westbourne, and he wasn’t going to his office. It turned out he didn’t have to work, because he was fortunate enough to have won the Euro-millions a few months ago. Today he was heading to Lords Cricket Ground, to watch the test match. Phoebe had never met anyone with a private income before, and wasn’t exactly sure what it was. She didn’t know if she should be impressed or feel sad, however from the look of his collar and tie she did feel perhaps a private income might be quite nice.
Dante was not sure he much cared for Samuel, probably because he was everything Dante was not. Firstly he had very long legs and secondly his brilliant white fur had been superbly groomed, Dante had needed a groom for a while but his furless two legs never seemed to get around to making the appointment . He had to admit he did have the odd tangle here and there.
As the taxi crawled across London, Phoebe and Samuel did all the talking, and quickly Dante noticed that Phoebe was sounding as if she lived in the poshest part of London. Samuel didn’t seem to notice Dante was even there, and spent the whole journey telling Phoebe about his holiday home in Tuscany and how she must come visit one day!
Eventually, after what had felt longer than the train journey, Samuel announced that they were in Notting Hill and that BooBoo’s Street was the second turning on the left. Samuel asked the taxi driver to stop just under a sign saying,’no parking’. Phoebe and Dante quickly jumped out because the cars behind were honking their horns for the taxi to get a move on! They thanked Samuel for the kind lift and Phoebe wished him a ‘good day’. Something Dante had never heard her say before, and again wondered what on earth had come over her!
Dante knew that BooBoo lived at number 33, but as they couldn’t see the numbers high up on the doors, they decided they would put their noses to the pavement and follow BooBoo’s faint smell. After a while the scent became stronger and they knew they were going the right way. All of a sudden Dante could smell they were right outside BooBoo’s front door. They walked up the step and sat down looking at the front door. Then after a big breath they both gave out two loud “HELLO” sharp barks.
To be continued………..
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Image Credits: Vicky Batt , Vicki Batt .