I am a cat rather than a dog lover. That does not mean I don't like dogs - in fact there are some I know which I like very much, but I have never had a dog and do not accept that dogs are wholly ever safe. I was bitten on the bum once when a child by a 'child friendly' golden ladrador which ran a long way down the road to launch an unprovoked attack me on while on my own property. Another time I was nipped by an alsation when riding a bike. I also agree with the owner of the pet shop in Palmerston Road that there are a number of terriers who are in the hands of inappropriate owners.
On the whole, though, I still do like most dogs, expecially ones I can see the point of, like bright eyed and waggy-tailed gun dogs, retreavers and dogs that go very, very fast, like greyhounds. You still do see a fair few greyhounds around Walthamstow, as until recently we had a greyhound track.
I should say that I am not into gambling, as I think it fosters inauthentic relationships between people, but I have gambled in the past, including on the dogs at Catford and Walthamstow. I did enjoy the nights out to the stadiums and can see why a lot of people enjoy the atmosphere and did not want the dog track closed.
After providing my sporting highlight of 2008, the stadium is however silent at the moment, as it has been bought up by a so-called charity called L&Q, who claim their big priority in life is providing social housing. If they were actually doing that, I personally would consider the loss of the stadium and the jobs bound up in dog racing for some decent houses might not be such a bad thing, but it appears that the new owners have no plans worth speaking about to actually build the houses and they are just leaving the perfectly good building to rot.
A group of people locally (albeit some with vested interests) think that is wrong and they want to re-start racing on the track. In my view, reluctant as I am to encourage gambling, that seems reasonable, as it seems that the unaccountable building project has stalled and it is wrong to leave such a place to moulder unproductively when local people think they have a chance to save it.