August: The People We Share It With
When I looked back on August, I noticed something. Almost every memory had someone else’s name attached to it.
Friends from London. Some had come from abroad. Others had once been strangers brought together by a shared love of dogs.
The restaurants, the celebrations and even the places we visited were simply the settings. The real story was the people and the dogs we shared them with.
The month began in a way I never imagined.
Standing at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, speaking to anyone who would stop and listen about a mother dog named Wang Wang.
Her story of unimaginable cruelty touched millions around the world. We couldn’t change what had happened to her, but we could stand together and make sure her story wasn’t forgotten.
For one afternoon, people from different backgrounds, cultures and nationalities came together for one simple reason: because compassion should never have borders.
Looking back, I realised a rather lovely pattern is beginning to evolve.
We seem to have formed our own unofficial dining club. Lunch with Martine and Ju-li at Kudu. Another at The Park. And we are only getting started.
Adelina visiting from New York, giving us the perfect excuse to celebrate Tobi Masa’s burger launch. It also brought back memories of Bar Masa at Columbus Circle, one of my favourite lunch spots when I was living and working in Manhattan. Some restaurants become part of our personal history, and revisiting them, even in a different city—feels a little like catching up with an old friend.
We finally experienced RH Mayfair, a place that hardly does justice to call a furniture showroom. As an interior designer, I could happily have spent hours wandering through its beautifully curated rooms before sitting down to lunch.
There were also relaxed brunches at Boxcar and JUSU, wonderful dog-friendly discoveries.
People often ask where we find all these dog-friendly places. The truth is, we’re not trying to tick restaurants off a list. We’re simply enjoying discovering London together.
The restaurants are wonderful, of course, but what I remember most are the conversations that stretch over lunch, introducing friends to somewhere new, and George and Lulu happily settling under the table as though they had always belonged there.
Slowly, these places are becoming part of our friendships.
That same feeling continued outside London.
Fiona and Missy welcomed Ju-li, Darcy, George, Lulu and me for a summer barbecue in the countryside. The dogs wandered happily through the garden while we caught up over good food and easy conversation.
Sometimes the simplest days become the ones we remember most.
One of the month’s most special gatherings was a reunion at April and Patsy’s home with Bob, also a Harbin alumni. Watching these dogs together, each with their own remarkable rescue story, never loses its magic.
To see dogs whose lives once began in fear now running freely, surrounded by love, is a quiet reminder of everything rescue can achieve.
August also marked Lulu’s fourth Gotcha Day. It has now been three years since she made the extraordinary journey from the Harbin shelter, through Paris and finally to London.
Looking at her today, it is almost impossible to imagine the frightened little dog she once was.
Every year she grows a little more confident, a little more curious and a little more cheeky.
Here’s to four wonderful Gotcha Days, and to many, many more adventures together.
Not to mention our dogs became artists for the day. Smith & Whistle invited us to their Dog Day – Sip n Paint. We had so much fun creating their masterpieces.
There were family milestones too. Sasha turned sixteen. It hardly seems possible that the little boy I once knew is growing into such a thoughtful young man.
Watching the next generation find their own path is one of life’s quiet privileges.
Towards the end of the month, I closed the door on a chapter that began thirteen years ago.
The Chelsea townhouse with the purple front door was my first major interior design project. Every spring, people still stop beneath its wisteria to take photographs, often without knowing the stories held behind those walls.
Over the years, it became much more than a project. Wonderful tenants became friends.
As I locked the door for the last time, I realised I wasn’t really saying goodbye to a house. I was saying thank you for everything it had given me.
One evening, we all looked up.
People gathered to watch the solar eclipse as the moon quietly crossed in front of the sun. For a few moments, strangers stood side by side, sharing the same sky.
It felt strangely fitting. Because, looking back, that is exactly what August became.
A month of shared tables. Shared stories. Shared celebrations. Shared memories.
A reminder that the places we visit are only part of the journey.
It is the people, and the dogs, we share them with that become the memories we carry forward.
