A Very Close Call

Many many people here have dogs, and they bring them around much more than in London. The dogs come into restaurants, bars and on the metro. Today I was coming back from signing up for my French course, which is four hours a day for a month - vraiment a prodigious amount of French for me! I changed metros and as I was walking down the platform saw a commotion starting - the metro doors had closed between a man and his dog, with the leash connecting the two. The dog was on the platform, and already a few people had gathered round to try and help. The train started to move off, and one man grabbed the dog and started to run along the platform, with everyone yelling. It was awful, actually I can feel my stomach lurching now. I had that terrible feeling, that you are actually watching someone's life change for the worse. Then the train stopped, and there was lots more yelling, and then started moving again. By the time it stopped again one of the men had managed to cut the leash, and himself a bit too. The doors finally opened and man and dog were reunited. The platform gang looked shocked and upset, I couldn't really see the owner too well.

I went to draw outside for a bit after that until some teenagers came out from the local school and stood flirting with each other in my eyeline.