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The Most Famous Dog in Tirana

So there I was taking Bella for a drag round the streets last night. On Rr. Deshmorit e 4 Shkurtit I passed a young couple, obviously not Albanian, but since I didn't know them I thought no more of it. A few yards further on, outside Serendipity, Bella stopped to sniff various things. As I was waiting for her the guy I had passed came back and approached me.

"Are you *** ***?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied tentatively.

"I'm the Spanish guy who emailed you" he said.

And it all fell into place. A few months ago this guy had emailed me before he got to Tirana. He had been reading this blog before coming out here. We had planned to meet up when he arrived but he was so busy at work that we never got round to it.

"But how did you know it was me?" I asked, since there are no photographs of me on the blog.

"Bella." he said, pointing to the most famous dog in Tirana who, oblivious of her celebrity, was still sniffing the ground.

Perhaps it's time she had her own blog.

Comments

Miss Kim said…
Ha ha.... but Coco has that title already! One day I stepped off my elevator and a lady (Drita) exclaimed "Ohhhh that's Coco... you must be Kim!" She recognised my dog from my blog as well. We could start a blog for Famous Dogs of Tirana? :)
olli said…
How about Coco the most famous expat dog in Tirana and Bella the most famous Albanian dog in Tirana - or did you get her here?
Anonymous said…
are you Alwyn Thomson?

That's the name that comes up when i search Our Man in Tirana on google. I don't know if it is you. It looks like you have red hair but the picture is small.

Gossip is Albanians' number 1 weapon they say. If a tried and researched more(not jsut 5 min online) about a person I can find anything.
I remind you that Tennet, the ex-CIA top dog says he is GReek, but his father is form Qeparo village and his mother from Himara.

If someone here has drawing talents we could start a childern cartoon "Dogs of TIrana".
olli said…
That would be telling. I have to have some secrets.
Miss Kim said…
Haha! Yes... Coco is actually Romanian!

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