I WONDER why it is that people have dogs? All my life I have always lived in a house where we have had a dog.

I think it might be because secretly we like their undivided loyalty and unquestioning devotion; well, I think that's what it might be.

They are always there to greet you — your day could have been terrible, you could have lost your job, failed a test, had a row — but your faithful friend will still greet you with great enthusiasm, tail-a-wagging, and a look of love and adoration.

And they never waver, for to them, you are ‘the one’.

My own little dog is now about 14-years-old, but still wick, lively and loving as ever and long may she be so.

Our electricity has been ‘off’ for a couple of hours and it's made me realise, just how much we rely on electricity, for all manner of things — cooking, heating, TV, radio, computer.

Heavens!

The list is endless.

And when it was off, it started us all with a bit of ‘do you remember when’. I recalled my mum who had, before starting to do the week’s ironing, to heat the irons in front of the open fire.

Now it's so easy with our upmarket steam ones.

Our radio was run off a wet battery and in the larder a jug of milk stood in a basin of cold water to stop it going sour.

Oh! Those certainly were not the days, but we were happy. It was a case of what you have never, had you never miss.

The great thing about radio is that it makes you use your imagination; you hear the words but the picture is one you create yourself.

I'm still a big radio fan, I watch it all the time. Of course it’s much better now that it’s in colour and stereo — joke.

My little squirrel friend in the garden, sits just outside my window, head on one side looking at me, then with a flip of her tail is off. I’d love to know what she thinks.