TBK tells- the end of the road for my red Vans

 

Chester plays daily with one of my red Vans

If you already read my blog about the two Chester's in my life you will know that there are many links between the Hooman behind TBK who lives in Marikina and the 4 legged version that keeps me company as I write my blogs in Bagon Sikat.

If you did not read the Blog, shame on you, 62 others did! I suggest that you read it now as this Blog will make more sense:

Chester- Hooman or Dawg

The other day I was flicking through the excellent e-book called Best of Neil's Blog, 2015 and on page 88 I found this set f pictures taken in Doha, Qatar in the cold winter ( 29 degrees which is cold for Doha!  https://www.weather2travel.com/qatar/november/) of 2015.

I thought those lovely shiny new Red Vans, which I wore every day in Doha as Chester ( The Hooman) and I walked up and down the Corniche, looked rather familiar.

 Chester playing with his favourite "toy", my old Van!

Then I felt something hit my leg rather hard and looked down to see Chester ( the dawg) having one of his Baliw ( crazy in Tagalog) 30 mins swinging around an old chewed once red Van by the laces!

Sadly with both Chester and I having changed laptops many times in the last 7 years we have lost most of our pictures in Doha- above is a picture of him there in 2016

  Chester even found some old pics from 2015 of me wearing my Vans in Doha

           And resting at Costa Coffee on the Corniche after our long walk

So then I realised the link between the two Chester's was greater than one being named after the other. They both sleep a lot ( but the Hooman snores more) and eat a lot ( but the dawg eats Top dog puppy food) and now they both have a link to Doha. For those who do not know that's where I met the Hooman Chester in 2015 when he acted as my tour guide. We stayed in the Ezdan hotel at West bay and went for a long walk on the beautiful corniche each day, with me wearing my red Vans!

My red Vans in their prime ( before I discovered how to clean them with a Toothbrush!)

Today that old Van ( age at least 8 years old now) is looking very sorry for itself- after weeks of chewing by Chester...

Back in the Blog from Doha we simulated throwing the smelly Vans away at the end of the Cornice- but now I fear I may have to throw one away for real after Chester has systematically chewed it to tiny pieces!

So why did I give Chester such a treasured possession?

When we unpacked everything that Writer Relocations packed for me in December 2020 in Bahrain I found about 6 pairs of trainers that I had not worn for approaching 2 years. I no longer wear shoes ( except for Weddings and Government offices) so they have just been sitting at the bottom of my wardrobes. However I do wear Tsinellas ( slippers, sandals flip flops, thongs depending where you are from). I had a large collection of Hotel Slippers gathered from the Melia hotel in Dubai ( thanks Erickson), the    hotel in Bahrain ( thanks Joshua- your secret is safe with me and our readers!) , the Heritage Hotel in Manila and the Microtel in Palawan. Every time my guests or I would put one pair down Chester would race across and rip it to pieces.

So I figured that if I gave Chester the Van he would eat that and leave everyone else's slippers alone. The plan worked for a while but Chester is very smart ( or Matalino as we say in Tagalog) and waits until your guard is down and then grabs your slippers to chew alongside his Van! So if you come and visit please leave your shoes outside, in your bag or on a high shelf!

"Enough stories, Mr P, Give us some facts about Labradors. I mean , is this chewing thing normal??"

" Sure Mr G. This is what I found in my research:

These dogs can be mischievous, especially as puppies, and may ingest foreign items such as clothing, toys, and other items around the house that can lead to the need for emergency veterinary care."

Source: https://www.pawlicy.com/blog/labrador-retriever-growth-and-weight-chart/#full-size ( accessed 28.08.22)

By the way, if you are thinking of getting a Labrador puppy please note the use of the word mischievous is a big understatement. I am thinking of renaming Chester MAKULIT ( Tagalog for Naughty) as we call him that more than we call him Chester. Charizz. We all ( Jhoanna, Julios, Elay, Mickey, Frythy, Noel, Jovan , TJ) love you lots Chester!

   Chester and the gate he can now squeeze under in his bid for freedom!

However, since Richard Atkinson told me a Labrador is like a 3 year old child in a fur coat I have learnt to outsmart him. He always comes and behaves at food time, but the rest of the day runs riot.  He eats our neighbours garbage, and now manages to limbo dance under the gate (on the rare occasions my neighbours can be bothered to close it to stop 18000 peso of pure bred Labrador running away) and run off down the road to the sea, pr across the busy road and down a muddy lane. So to get him back I bang the metal bowl from the weighing scales on the window grill and he thinks it's dinner time and comes racing home to find the back door quickly shut behind him!

The other thing he has not realised yet is that he only has the left Van- I still have the right one!! Charizz as the gay Bagets say in Tagalog!

I hope you have enjoyed my walk down memory lane with my Vans and thanks to Chester the Dawg for giving me so much new material for Blogs and Chester the Hooman for digging out all the old Memorabilia

Coming soon our latest TBK Brand- TBK teaches, where TBK teaches his friends how to cook!

Stay tuned to our social media channels for the latest on my retirement in Palawan!