Brief Encounter

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Do people still flash their lights at drivers with the same make of car? Not if you’re driving a Ford Focus, obviously. You’d be at it all day. But years ago, our neighbour had a Triumph Spitfire. If another Triumph Spitfire happened to be passing on the other side of the road, they would flash their lights in greeting. Does this still happen?

Apparently it was a surprise the first time, when our neighbour was new to Triumph Spitfires. Somebody flashed their lights and he immediately pulled over, convinced – because he wasn’t speeding, and didn’t appear to be doing anything else to annoy the other driver – that there was something wrong with the car; a flat tyre, for example.

I mention all this because a similar thing happens with dogs (and, no, I don’t mean that dogs who drive Triumph Spitfires flash their lights on seeing other dogs at the wheel. That would be silly, wouldn’t it?).

Our black Labrador, Bertie, was taking me for a stroll through the woods not that long ago when another black Labrador and owner approached. As is the custom in Britain, because we are not a demonstrative people unless we are driving classic cars, the owner and I exchanged the briefest of nods.

It appeared that we had the same ideas about exercising dogs because we met every day for the next four days, exchanging brief nods when we met. On the fifth day, feeling reckless, I said, ‘Lovely morning.’ (It wasn’t so lovely, to be honest, but you know how it is: those words were the first thing that came into my head and I suppose I panicked.)