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READER’S DIGEST 50 august/september 2023
...DIFFERENTLY Skeleton Sledding First and foremost, this extreme sport requires courage. After all, skeleton riders hurtle down an ice channel head first while lying on their bellies. The sport owes its somewhat macabre name to the sleds used. These consist largely of a metal frame reminiscent of a skeleton. On their slide, which can reach speeds of up to 145 km/h, athletes such as Austrian Janine Flock – shown here at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing – steer by shifting pressure with their legs and shoulders. PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES/JEFF PACHOUD; GETTY IMAGES/ADAM PRETTY rdasia.com 51
YOUR FASCIA-NATING New science is showing that fascia – the webbing that holds your body together – might play a role in far more than just post-exercise soreness BY Helen Foster PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES BODY & MIND 52 august/september 2023
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and some contain immune cells. It’s been discovered that it can contract of its own volition (around 30 per cent of the force of a muscular movement is controlled by the fascia rather than the muscle), and that it plays a role in how we feel pain and also in how we determine where we are in space – a key part of how we move. “There’s not a part of the body that the fascia doesn’t touch – and that it doesn’t affect,” says Alison Slater, a Sydney-based physiotherapist who specialises in the fascia. “It tells the muscles what to do and how quickly and strongly to do it. It’s like the muscles are the brawn of the body – but the fascia is the brain.” Fascia develops after we’re born once we start to crawl, then stand, then walk. “It thickens in response to the demands we put upon it as we become bipedal,” says Slater. If it remains healthy during the rest of your life, you probably won’t even know it’s there. The layers of fascia glide effortlessly across each other when we move, and that allows us to move smoothly and gracefully too. However, if something damages the fascia, if the substance (hyaluronan) that lubricates the layers gets sticky, or the fibres themselves start to stiffen and clump together, movement becomes more stilted, and so do you. Dysfunction of the fascia might ascia is possibly the most prevalent tissue in the body. Exactly how much of it we have hasn’t been measured, but it’s everywhere, supporting the skin and covering muscles, nerves and organs. Despite this, until recently, this white stringy substance was seen as so irrelevant to health that doctors would throw it away during anatomy lessons. “But in ten to 15 years, I think we’re going to look at that as like trying to examine the body and leaving out the liver,” says Professor Carla Stecco from the University of Padova in Italy, one of the world’s leading investigators into the role of the fascia. “We have a huge amount of fascia in our body and to ignore that tissue and its role in the function of the muscles, organs and skin, or in the development of disease is crazy.” Thanks to the work of Professor Stecco, and other researchers in the field, we now know that rather than being merely an inert scaffold of collagen fibres, fascia is a complex structure with roles we’re only just teasing out. We’ve discovered that there’s not one type of fascia – but four “each with different characteristics and roles”. We know that some types of fascia have a nervous system READER’S DIGEST “IT’S LIKE THE MUSCLES ARE THE BRAWN – BUT THE FASCIA IS THE BRAIN” 54 august/september 2023
also explain some of the conditions that have baffled doctors for years. For example, a strong case is now being made for the fascia being the cause of unspecified back pain (pain not caused by an obvious injury or issue with a muscle or disc) after researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) discovered that people with long-term back pain had 20 per cent stiffer fascia in one region of the back than those without pain. Other estimates suggest that myofascial pain is present in around 30 per cent of people with musculoskeletal pain in the back, neck, shoulder, hip and pelvis or who suffer frequent headaches. “I think we might find a lot of what we blame on the joints and muscles may actually turn out to be disorders of the fascia in the future,” says Slater. It’s also suggested that inflammation of the fascia might be associated with a number of other idiopathic conditions including fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome and endometriosis. And lastly, there’s a possible link with cancer. Not the development of a tumour, but whether the environment around one plays a role in whether it spreads or responds effectively to treatment. “The fascia around a tumour is now an element looked at by oncologists to determine how aggressive a cancer might be,” says Professor Stecco. “It’s possible that there’s something active in the fascia that is involved with cell signalling and the metastasis of cancer.” Looking after the fascia is therefore something we should all be integrating into our daily self care, like brushing our teeth or looking after our heart, particularly as we get older. As we age our fascia naturally stiffens, particularly around the back; and for women, the withdrawal of oestrogen that comes at menopause also alters the fascia. “There may also be a genetic link as to how the fascia behaves,” says Professor Stecco. “We see that if the parent is stiff, their child is stiffer, for example.” Obesity, which may alter fascial hyaluronan, is also a key risk factor for increased fascial stiffness and pain. Emotional stress, which can cause muscle tension, can also affect and modify the fascia. Fascia wraps around and supports every structure in the body PHOTO: PUBLIC DOMAIN rdasia.com 55
The first step in caring for the fascia is stretching. When you stretch fascia in a static position, like you would holding a yoga pose for a few minutes, it actually changes the cells within it. In studies by NIH researcher Helene Langevin, stretching tissue in a lab for two hours doubled the size of cells called fibroblasts in the fascia creating longer, flatter, more relaxed cells. Other studies showed just five minutes of stretching reduced the level of inflammation in the fascia. Foam rolling is another way to relax the fascia – so far, it doesn’t look as if this has the same long term effects upon it as holding a static stretch does, but, it does help prevent stiffening, particularly after exercise. “But, you need to roll correctly – like you’re working on delicate pastry – it shouldn’t feel like a search and destroy mission – but a gentle, constant pressure,” says Slater. Move, regularly. “So many people will go out and do their run or their cycle first thing but then they sit down for the rest of the day and that doesn’t help the fascia,” says Slater. So, change position, stand up regularly and take short walks to keep things supple. And finally feed your fascia. Staying hydrated helps keep the hyaluronan that lubricates the fascia fluid, and Professor Stecco says that her patients suffering pain also tend to benefit from a more anti-inflammatory diet – which means lots more oily fish, fruit, vegetables and wholegrains and less sugar, fat, alcohol and processed foods. “I think we are learning that a role of the fascia is to maintain the body health – but for it to work, we must maintain the health of the fascia,” Professor Stecco says. “When the fascia is healthy we feel better in body – and mind.” Stretching and staying hydrated may help maintain a healthy fascia “WHEN THE FASCIA IS HEALTHY WE FEEL BETTER IN BODY – AND MIND” PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES 56 august/september 2023
Helpers You’ll now find robots doing everything from soothing your nerves to brewing your coffee BY Helen Foster PHOTO: DAWN AVATAR ROBOT CAFÉ PHOTO FEATURE TheDAWNAvatar RobotCafé,in Nihonbashi,Tokyo, makes coffeeand servesmealsviarobot baristasandwaiters– butit’swho’s controllingtheserobots thatmakes things particularlyinteresting. Thecompanyemploys over60remoterobot ‘pilots’;peoplewhofind itdifficulttoworkin personbecauseof issues suchasphysical disability.Thepilots, whoarebasedathome, takeorders from customersandthe robotfollows them throughinthecafé. FounderOryLaboratory hopes thatthecafécan helpreducethe loneliness thatmany isolatedpeoplefeel. JAPAN 58 august/september 2023
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Victoriahasgivenbirth hundredsoftimes;no, she’snot somekindof super-mum,butabirth simulationrobot helpingtrainmedical students tohandle emergenciesatthe RoyalHospitalfor Women’sSimulatedand IntegrativeLearning (SAIL)CentreinSydney. “Complications like maternalheartattack arerarebut canbe terrifyingwhenthey happen,butby practisingonVictoria thestudents createa pathwayintheirbrain that shows themwhat todo–it’s likepilots trainingonaflight simulator,”explains DrAmandaBeech, directoroftheSAIL Centre. USA Clockwork’snailpolishpaintingrobot wasdevelopedwhenfounderRenuka Aptewantedtosave timeonherown beauty regime, andit’snowbeautified tensofthousandsofhands. The roboticianhasn’tquitemasteredshaping orfiling,but itdoes a veryneatpolishin justtenminutes. “One challengewas allowingcustomers toactually see the robotpaintwhichmade itmore approachable,” saysApte.Clockwork is beingsetupinretail stores, allowing customers topopinfor apolish. AUSTRALIA PHOTOS: (VICTORIA) COURTESY OF HEALTH.NSW.GOV.AU; (NAILS) COURTESY OF CLOCKWORK 60 august/september 2023
POLAND Paro is a robotic babyGreenland sealwho responds to stimulus like touch and soundwith cute noises and adorablewriggling.However, Paro is no toy, it’s aUS$6000 medical device proven to reduce stress and anxiety.Around 7000 robo-seals are in use around the world, and right now, it’s being usedinWarsawto help emotionally supportrefugees from thewarin Ukraine. The seals,whichwere donated by the Japanese Embassy, appearin refugee centres, kindergartens and hospitals. SINGAPORE 35,000. That’showmany workinghours the14 shelfsortingrobotsworkingatten ofSingapore’s libraries save the libraries a year. The robots, equippedwithradiofrequency scanners, trundle aroundthe libraries atnight ensuringall thebooks arewhere they shouldbe.Ifthey finda misplacedtome far away from itsdesignatedshelf,they photographitready forhuman stafftocorrectthenextday. “Eachshelf-readingrobot can scanabout50,000books overnight andtheyhave a 99per cent accuracy score,” says LiauYiChin,deputy directoroftheNational Library Board’s technologicaldivision. PHOTOS: (BOOKS) NATIONAL LIBRARY BOARD SINGAPORE; (SEAL) TAKANORI SHIBATA rdasia.com 61
ArriveattheHennna Hotel inMyeongdong, Seoul,andyouwon’tbe welcomedbyahuman receptionist,butbytwo politerobots. Theyspeakfour languages (Korean, English,Japaneseand Chinese),makingiteasy forthemtocheckyour passportandassign yourroom. If during your stay you needany room amenities like extra towels or pillows, they’llthen be delivered by their colleague,the room assistantrobot. Hen loosely translates to strange or differentin Japanese andHenn na has robot hotels in Japan, South Korea and theUSA. UNITED KINGDOM Lyra is a robotthat goes places no human safely can – areas of intense nuclear contamination. Adapted to carry five radiation detectors and an arm that allows herto take radiation samples via swab, Lyla spent February to April 2022 exploring a ventilation duct atthe decommissionedDounreay nuclear reactorlaboratory in Scotland, providing an essential map ofradiation levels that will helpwith the dismantling ofthe plantin the future.Otherrobots are also helping clean up reactors at Chernobyl and Fukushima in Japan. SOUTH KOREA PHOTOS: (HOTEL) DIANE GODLEY; (LYRA) THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER 62 august/september 2023
TAIWAN Aeo is a 60cm-tall nurse robotwith heart-shapedeyesdesignedtohelp take over simpleduties like medicationdelivery from human nurses so they have more time to spendwith patients. Moving at a sedate 3.2km/h,Aeo can safely move around a hospital without a helper, and his ability to see in the dark, makes him the perfect staff memberto do nightly bed checks.He can even disinfect surfaces as hepasses by. HONG KONG Sophia may be theworld’s most famous robot – aUNambassador, public speaker, artist and influencer with 219k Instagram followers. She’s incredibly lifelike and can recognise faces, hand gestures and even human emotions. First developed in 2014,today’s Sophia is her 51stincarnation. Hong Kong-based creators Hanson robotics say Sophia’s main role is to help us further understand humanrobotinteractions but herinfluence may span further. “Often little girls write and describe howinspired they are to pursue careers in AI and robotics because they’ve seen Sophia,” her creator DrDavidHanson told us. PHOTOS: (SOPHIA) HANSON ROBOTICS; (AEO) AEOLUS ROBOTICS rdasia.com 63 High Tech Helpers
A2021 study from Singapore found that people who do housework are fitter than those who don’t. Tackling ‘high intensity’ tasks such as cleaning windows helps improve physical health and mental faculties, especially among the elderly. The mental aspect doesn’t surprise me. Attempting to change my duvet cover often leaves me entirely submerged in the thing, my hands holding its corners inside the cover, wondering what to do next. I’m pretty sure the widespread belief in ghosts stems from people becoming permanently entangled in their duvet covers. Stacking the dishwasher is worse, with a hundred possible solutions to the problem of fitting everything in, only one of which is judged as correct by other household members. Has a dishwasher ever been stacked without someone saying: “Not that way, you’ve got it all wrong!”? The bathroom leads to more Good News About HOUSEWORK BY Richard Glover ILLUSTRATION BY SAM ISLAND HUMOUR 64 august/september 2023
disputes. It’s my belief that every time you have a shower, the shower has a shower and is therefore self-cleaning. But my wife, Jocasta, believes the shower recess needs to be cleaned separately, a task I achieve by stripping naked and attacking it on my knees with a scrubbing brush, my backside waggling from side to side as I work away at the grime. Jocasta enjoys the sparkling results butremains uncertain about whether it’s worth the flashbacks. Apparently, there are some things that, once seen, cannot be unseen. As for cleaning windows, it’s impossible to achieve a good result. I work hard at it, spraying on the fluid and scrubbing the glass with a crumpled sheet of newsprint. Everything looks spotless until the sun hits the windows the next morning, upon which they resemble a Jackson Pollock painting. I then wash them again, which only moves the swirls from one place to another. Maybe I’m using the wrong section of the newspaper. Next in my housework/workout regimen, I sweep up, which creates a pile of dog hair so unfeasibly large that I wonder if there’s anything left of the dog. The late British writer and eccentric Quentin Crisp famously claimed that if you don’t do housework, dirt will stop accumulating after four years. I don’t know if this is entirely true. I have memories of student houses in which the type of flooring was uncertain, so complete was the coverage of motorcycle parts, pizza boxes and general filth. Nature abhors a vacuum and so did these young men. Was it a coincidence that they were all out of shape? I think not. The bathroom was worse. Every time I hazarded a visit, I remember optimistically wondering if ‘Putrid Black’ was just another colour in the range of bathroom fittings. I hope my housemates eventually realised one of life’s great truths: Romantic partners find people who perform their share of the housework more arousing. Jocasta’s erogenous zones, I’ve learned, include the kitchen floor, the bathroom and the lint filter in the clothes dryer. What other housework can we throw ourselves into and make ourselves fitter at the same time? I have found that organising the Tupperware drawer is a good start, as it tends to involve a lot of crouching, standing and then crouching again. There’s also the moral and intellectual tussle of whether to throw out the lids that have no bottoms and the bottoms that have no lids, or wait to see if missing parts turn up. And by never having the lawn mower serviced, I have cleverly created a system in which starting it involves two hour s of sweat-inducing cord-pulling. That’s the thing about housework. As the Singaporeans discovered, you’ve got to use your body and your brains. rdasia.com 65
READER’S DIGEST The Best Medicine CrustALawyer Two lawyers walk into a pub. They order a couple of drinks and take their sandwiches out of their briefcases and then they begin to eat them. Seeing this, the angry publican exclaims, “Excuse me, but you can’t eat your own sandwiches in here!” The lawyers look at each other, shrug their shoulders, then exchange sandwiches. www.theretreat.pub Mighty Merger One day YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook will join together and be called: YouTwitFace. Seen on the internet Business News In a business deal that resonated in homes across the country, the giant corporation Cats announced today that it had completed a hostile takeover of Dogs. The new company, LAUGHTER CARTOON: JIM BENTON 66 august/september 2023
SMILES AND DIALS My new hobby is eating clocks. It’s rather time-consuming. Why did the Apple Watch lose the fight to the grandfather clock? The clock had hands. How can you tell when your clock is hungry? It goes back four seconds. For sale: Clock with half a face. For a limited time only. What do you call a clock made out of records? It’s the vinyl countdown. Q: How did the street clock address the tower clock? A: “High there!” Sources: www.easyfamilyfun.com, www.laffgaff.com Laughter which Cats said will be called OnePet, will supplant the recently created Birdfishgroup as the world’s largest supplier of home companion services. https://people.bu.edu The Last Straw Not to victim blame but why did you bring a needle into a haystack in the first place? @eggshellfriend The Right Skills A dog walks into an employment centre. “Wow, a talking dog,” says the advisor. “With your talent I’m sure we can find you a gig in the circus.” “The circus?” says the dog. “What does a circus want with a plumber?” www.scienceofpeople.com GoldenOldies Hello. All of the actors from Friends are now older than the youngest Golden Girl was in the show’s first season. Have a nice day. @elimccann All That Glitters After his jewellery stop was robbed five times in two weeks by the same thief, the police asked the owner if he could give a description of the robber. “Yes,” said the owner. “He was dressed a little better each time he robbed the shop.” IL SUBMITTED BY DAVIS SINGLETARY LUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES rdasia.com 67
ILLUSTRATION BY SERGE BLOCH 1 You might consider taking the train for your next getaway. After all, you’ll see only clouds at 35,000 feet – if you’re lucky. Europeans built the earliest rails in mines in the 16th century, with men or horses providing the power. The first steam engine operated in Wales in 1804. Perhaps this is why the Brits are loco for locomotives: in the UK, at least 20 magazines are published about them. Keeping Track Of TRAIN TRAVEL BY Samantha Rideout 2 The US has the world’s largest rail network at nearly 225,310 kilometres of track. 3 Today’s fastest trains travel close to 321 km/h. Sometimes called bullet trains (most famous among them Japan’s Shinkansen lines), many are powered on electricity. But the fastest of them all, the Shanghai Mag-lev in China, uses the 13 THINGS 68 august/september 2023 READER’S DIGEST
attraction and repulsion forces of magnets to shoot forwards, racing as fast as 458 km/h. The fastest French TGV (Trains à Grande Vitesse) trains, hit up to 300 km/h across a network linking cities across much of France. 4 Travelling by high-speed rail can actually be quicker than taking a plane in some circumstances – if you account for time spent at the airport. Train stations tend to be centrally located, while airports often lie outside of city centres. Another plus: rail travel is typically greener than going by air. The train ride from London to Madrid, for example, emits 43 kilograms of carbon dioxide per passenger, compared to 118 kilograms for the same trip by plane. 5 The Orient Express – the setting of the best-selling Agatha Christie mystery – is a real route, and among the most luxurious, featuring marble bathrooms and a live pianist in the bar car. But it’ll cost you: the fivenight Paris-to-Istanbul trip will set you back US$23,500 twin-share. 6 But there are cheaper famous railroads. Take the Fenchurch, which, along with Liverpool Street, Marylebone and King’s Cross, will each cost $200 in Monopoly money. In the more recent Ticket to Ride game, players link cities by rail and earn points based on the length of their routes. 7 One of the longest real-life routes is the Trans-Siberian Railway. Even express trains take nearly a week to wind through more than 9173 kilometres between Moscow and Vladivostok in Russia, passing through eight time zones along the way. Once a week, a single rail car from North Korea connects to Vladivostok, making Pyongyang to Moscow the longest rail trip you can take without switching trains. 8‘Slow TV’ or relaxing video that plays out over the same amount of time as the event it portrays, is full of footage of train trips using cameras fixed to the front cars. The genre’s first foray, a 2009 ride from Oslo to Bergen in Norway, has spun several spin-offs you can watch on Prime Video or YouTube. Stream the view from one of Chicago’s elevated trains or feast your eyes on the fjords along Norway’s Nordland line without leaving home. 9 Ghost trains give a spookier rail experience. One of the world’s many purported phantom locomotives follows the same route as the train that carried the body of Abraham Lincoln from Washington, DC, back to his home in Springfield, Illinois, in 1865. An article from 1879 in New York’s Rockland County Journal reads, “The shriek of its whistle and clang of its bell strike terror to the hearts of those that hear them.” rdasia.com 69 Keeping Track Of Train Travel
READER’S DIGEST The term ‘ghost train’ also describes British trains that run infrequently at odd hours, and often without passengers aboard. It’s easier for their operators to run them at a minimum than to cut the lines. 10Switzerland is home to the slowest railway in the world. The Glacier Express takes a sleepy eight hours to cover a distance of just 291 kilometres. But along the way passengers can marvel at sights such as the Oberalp Pass, the famous Landwasser Viaduct – a bridge that stands 65 metres above a valley floor, as well as glide through 91 tunnels, over 291 bridges and countless chances to enjoy views of meadows, mountain lakes and chalets. 11 Many nations involved in World War I relied on railways to move troops and supplies. France, for example, transported around one million men and 400,000 horses to the front by rail during the first two weeks alone. Some of Great Britain’s trains functioned as ambulances with cars converted into operating rooms where surgeons performed procedures in transit – despite the swaying. 12 Australia has three different track gauges because nobody could agree on just one. For a rail network, having the same track gauge (distance between two rails of a railway track) for an entire network, ensures trains can connect to all tracks with ease. Unfortunately for Australia, miscommunications during the original development of the rail network led to three separate colonies building three different sized gauges. This became a major issue in 1901 with the removal of trade barriers, as trains could not connect to tracks in other states. It took 94 years before all capital cities were joined by one standard gauge. As of 2022, the Australian rail network still comprises three different gauges: 18,007 kilometres of standard gauge, 2685 kilometres of broad gauge and 11,914 kilometres of narrow-gauge tracks. 13 And the winner for the best railway in the world goes to ... Japan and Hong Kong. A 2019 global survey of railroad efficiency rates Japan number one (6.8/7) and Hong Kong number two (6.5/7) respectively. Switzerland scored a close third. Going Only Sofa In Life “I used to sell furniture for a living. The trouble was, it was my own.” LES DAWSON, COMEDIAN 70 august/september 2023
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READER’S DIGEST One of the secrets to staying young is to always do things you don’t know how to do, to keep learning. RUTH REICHL, CELEBRITY CHEF Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken. WARREN BUFFETT, ENTREPRENEUR Everyone you meet in life is fighting a battle you know nothing about. TIM FERRIS, PODCASTER I would rather five people knew my work and thought it was good work than five million knew me and were indifferent. COLIN FIRTH, ACTOR DOUBT IS A KILLER. YOU JUST HAVE TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU STAND FOR. JENNIFER LOPEZ, SINGER THE THINGS THAT GO UNSAID ARE OFTEN THE THINGS THAT EAT AT YOU. CELESTE NG, WRITER QUOTABLE QUOTES PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES 72 august/september 2023
Another 25 helpful hints to improve your life BY The Editors WE FOUND MORE FIXES ART OF LIVING 74 august/september 2023
ILLUSTRATIONS: ABSCENT84/GETTY IMAGES, (LEMON) QUISP65/GETTY IMAGES FOOD Keep Bananas Fresh Can’t use the whole bunch yet? Ratherthan having to throw out a few that end up getting too ripe, put them in the refrigerator when they have started to soften. The cold will help bananas stay at their peak for another week. That said, avoid refrigerating bananas that aren’t quite ripe, as it will stop the natural ripening process. Get More Juice From A Lemon Pop any citrus fruit in the microwave and you’ll not only make it easier to squeeze, but you’ll also get more juice overall. Microwave for 10 to 30 seconds, depending on the fruit’s size – a large grapefruit will need longer than a lemon – and be sure to let the fruit cool before handling it. Put Extra Wine To Use Freeze leftover wine in ice-cube trays to add flavour to future sauces, stews and more. White and sparkling work best in creamy or clear soups, while red wine goes well with tomato or beef-based dishes. Add about one ice cube per serving. Make Frozen Fish Taste Fresher If you want the fish that has been in your freezer to taste like it was freshly caught, soak it in milk while it’s defrosting, then cook it. You’ll limit any fishy odour, too. ON THE ROAD Don’t Overfill Your Tank A few more drops of petrol can’t hurt, right? Not so fast – the automatic shut-off valve is there for a reason. Petrol needs room to expand, so topping off can cause pressure to build up in your fuel tank and lead to a dangerous leak. Better to just stop when the pump does. Undo Dents Before you pay a body shop take a small dent out of your car, lifehacker.com suggests that you place a plumber’s plunger over the dent and pull it out gently. You may need to wet the plunger first to help it stick. Don’t Buy a Car On A Rainy Day Looking for a used vehicle? Go on a clear day. It’s not about slippery rdasia.com 75 We Found More Fixes
good, you aren’t doing your feet any favours. Podiatrist Jacqueline Sutera says that wearing the same shoes day after day can cause foot fatigue because you’re constantly using the same areas of the foot for support and walking. Make sure you have a few pairs of comfortable shoes and rotate through them. CLEANING Remove Water Stains From Wood Did your most recent party leave your wood furniture with rings? To make them disappear, apply petroleum jelly and let it sit overnight. When you wipe it away in the morning, the marks should be gone. Get Rid Of Sweat Stains Those unsightly yellow stains that can show up on the underarms of ILLUSTRATION: JAKEOLIMB/GETTY IMAGES roads for the test drive; it’s that rain can hide scratches and other imperfections. Other things to look out for, no matter the weather: difficulty opening the doors, boot or under the bonnet. And keep an eye out for paint being a slightly different shade inside the boot compared with the body of the car; that indicates it the car may have been in an accident. HEALTH Inhale To De-stress If you’re feeling overwhelmed, step outside – or open a window. Researchers say getting more oxygen to the brain is a quick and effective stress reliever. “Taking in a deep breath of fresh air can immediately shift your neurochemistry,” says Deborah Serani, a psychology professor, and the author of Living with Depression. Relieve An Eye Strain Headache Try some acupressure on a pressure point known as Yu Yao. Using the tips of your fingers, press the middle of each eyebrow for a minute, then release. This can also help alleviate the tension that builds up from blocked sinuses. Change Your Shoes Regularly Who among us hasn’t fallen in love with a pair of super-comfortable shoes and proceeded to slip them on day after day? While that may feel 76 august/september 2023 READER’S DIGEST
ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES white shirts are pretty easy to remove. Before you launder the shirt as usual, try one of these methods. Crush two aspirin tablets and mix the powder into half a cup of warm water, then soak the stained fabric in the solution for a few hours. Or you can combine equal amounts of lemon juice and water, and use it to scrub the stain away. A third option is to mix one-part dishwashing liquid with two parts hydrogen peroxide, scrub the discolouration, then let it sit for an hour. Clean Paint With Hand Sanitiser Did you make a mess while doing some painting around the house? Here’s a handy fix for paint stains: hand sanitiser. Its high alcohol content makes it a great solvent for latex paint. PETS Test Your Dog’s Hydration To quickly check whether your dog is drinking enough water in hot weather, gently pinch the skin around his or her neck. “It should snap back down,” says Nicole Ellis, a pet-lifestyle expert. “But if the dog is dehydrated, it’ll go down very slowly.” Do it once on a temperate day so you have a healthy reference point. Stop Sunrise Meows Many cats are early risers during the longer days of summer. Should you feed your pet when he meows? No – that will just encourage his untimely entreaties. Instead, install blackout shades or blinds to block the sun. Then stick to strict feeding times: once in the morning and once in the evening. Let Your Dog Brush His Own Teeth Does your dog refuse to let you brush his teeth? Give him a toothbrush chew toy. Made of natural rubber, they have a reservoir to hold flavoured pet toothpaste, which, together with the bristles on the outside, will clean your pup’s teeth while he plays. Keep Your Cat Off The Couch Cats are sensitive, and you can use their texture preferences to guide their behaviour. If you’ve got a rascal who likes to spend the night sleeping rdasia.com 77 We Found More Fixes
ILLUSTRATION: IRINA CHEREMISINOVA/GETTY IMAGES on your new couch or prancing across the kitchen counter, cover the surfaces with a sheet of aluminium foil before you go to bed. Cats hate that texture and will soon learn to find a new, more agreeable perch. HOME Prevent Hanger Creases Don’t you hate it when you use a nice wooden hanger for your pants and still end up with a big crease in them? There’s a cheap and easy way to avoid that: bubble wrap. Wind it around the hanger bar a couple of times and secure it with tape. The bubbles will cushion even the most wrinkle-prone fabrics, including linen. Pick Up Bits Of Glass Easily Collecting the larger pieces of a broken glass or dish is usually easy enough, but picking up tiny slivers and shards can be tricky. A slice of soft bread pressed over the area will easily pick up those stray bits. Freeze Off Candle Wax If you’re struggling to get a melted candle stump out of its holder, put the whole thing in the freezer. After about an hour, the wax will shrink away from the sides, allowing you to pop it out with tweezers or a knife. Make Quicker Work Of Ironing The hotter your clothes, the faster you’ll smooth away the wrinkles. One good trick: put a piece of aluminium foil under your ironing board cover. The foil will reflect the heat from the iron back up to the fabric and smooth out the wrinkles more efficiently. Lower Your Energy Bill When you get home on a hot day, do you turn your air-conditioner’s temperature dial way down to cool the place quickly? That’s not a good idea, because your AC can work only so fast; reducing its temperature setting by too much will just waste energy since the appliance keeps cranking chilly air after the room has reached your ideal setting. You’ll save on energy costs by simply keeping it set to your preferred temperature. For the best efficiency, set your unit around 8°C cooler than the outside temperature. 78 august/september 2023 READER’S DIGEST
ILLUSTRATION: NADIA_BORMOTOVA/GETTY IMAGES TECHNOLOGY Preserve Your Device’s Battery It sounds counterintuitive, but unplugging your laptop, smartphone or tablet can help save its battery. The capacity of the lithium-ion batteries most of these devices use diminishes slightly with each charging cycle, so keeping them plugged in when you don’t need to degrades the battery capacity more quickly. Aim to keep the charge between 50 and 80 per cent. A good strategy? Plug your device in first thing in the morning, recommends tech repair expert Tim Katsch. Once it’s charged, unplug it for the rest of the day. Get A Better Sleep The blue light emitted by your smart devices can suppress melatonin production and inhibit sleep. To reduce the amount of blue light coming from your device during screen time in the evening go to Settings on your iPhone or iPad, then Display & Brightness, and turn on Night Shift. For Android devices, look for Night Light or Blue Light Filter. Find A Lost Browser Tab There’s something especially maddening about clearing out dozens of open browser tabs and accidentally closing the one you actually need. On a PC, control+shift+T will restore the most recent tab you closed, as many times as you need. Mac users should hit command+shift+T. Wearing A Smile Some people in Japan who became so used to wearing face masks during the pandemic are signing up for lessons to teach them how to smile again. ‘Smile Instructors’ use techniques such as having students hold up mirrors to their faces, stretching the sides of their mouths with their fingers. SKY NEWS We Found More Fixes rdasia.com 79
READER’S DIGEST Humour On The Job That Beats All Many years ago, my grandfather taught carpentry at a technical college, and part of his job involved proctoring written exams. During one of these exams, a couple of students were tapping their pens quite loudly. On the face of it, this wasn’t so unusual; plenty of people in exams tap pens, drum fingers, etc, as an aid to memory – or at least, they certainly did when I took my exams. These taps, however, seemed rather more … well, rhythmic. A few taps later, Grandfather – who was in the naval cadets as a boy – realised that these two students were using their pens to tap out the answers to various questions in Morse code. Without saying a word, Grandfather picked up a pen of his own, glaring pointedly at the guilty students, and tapped out the phrase, “I K-N-O-W M-O-R-S-E C-O-D-E T-O-O.” Funnily enough, the tapping stopped immediately after that! Notalwaysright.com ALL IN A DAY’S WORK CARTOON: VAUGHAN TOMLINSON “Toilet or Tap?” 80 august/september 2023
All In A Day’s Work Teachers Share Surprising Things They’ve Done y Training the girls’ hockey team while dressed as a pirate. (It was Book Week.) y Cleaning spilled chicken soup out of a backpack. y Doing headstands at the end of the day because I was double-dared to do it! y Repeating myself so often. y Sewing students’ clothes back together during recess time. Compiled by Elizabeth Mulvahill on weareteachers.com Who’s The Boss? Whenever I’m feeling down, I remember the company dinner when an intern turned to our CEO and asked, “Who are you?” @KATJOLEWIS Late Excuse Sorry I’m late – my two year old decided he could buckle his own car seat. @wildrainbow2 ILLUSTRATIONS: GETTY IMAGES THE BEST MAN FOR THE JOB Len Markidan is the chief marketing officer at the internet marketing platform Podia. But, as his LinkedIn profile shows, his experience as an active consumer has been his most important job: Netflix: Account Manager APR 2009-PRESENT y Responsible for managing (and paying for) account shared by five globally distributed family members. y Exceeded market benchmarks by typing password using TV remote control with 48% accuracy or greater. y Multiyear recipient of suggestions for movies I’ve already watched. Amazon Prime: Member FEB 2008-PRESENT y Increased order volume by 823% over seven years. y Regularly reported on product quality using review portal. Apple: Uncertified Genius NOV 2003-PRESENT y Led remote tech support for older family members throughout the country. CAREER ADVICE I have a phone interview today and someone told me to ‘just be myself’ so I’m not going to answer the call. @caithuls rdasia.com 81
PHOTO: EXLIBRIS-INSEL.DE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO BY Doris Kochanek HUMAN BODY Test your knowledge about the ingenious human body QUIZ rdasia.com 83
1 The blueprint of every human being is in their DNA: around 23,000 genes located on 23 pairs of chromosomes. How many genes does a water flea have? a) 310 b) 3100 c) 31,000 d) 310,000 2 When you breathe through your nose, the airis cleaned and tempered. That’s another reason why when we experience a cold and our nasal passages become blocked, it can be particularly uncomfortable. How do nasal passages work when both are free from blockage? a) simultaneously b) alternately every several hours c) the right one during the day and the left one at night d) the left one during the day and the right one at night 3 Reader’s Digest has known it for a long time: Laughter is the best medicine. In fact, this is scientifically proven. What is actually so good about it? While laughing... a) the heart beats faster, which stimulates the metabolism b) the brain releases substances that make you happy c) breathing becomes deeper and the oxygen supply better d) All of the above 4 The human brain is the most complicated organ that nature has created. Well protected, it sits enthroned in our skull and, as it were, rules the body from there. Its individual areas take on different tasks. Where are our movements primarily controlled? In the ... a) cerebrum b) cerebellum c) brainstem d) medulla 5 As far as we understand, the right hemisphere is responsible for the left side of the body, the left hemisphere for the right side of the body. But is that always the case? Where do the fibres of the optic nerve of the right human eye go? In ... a) both hemispheres of the brain b) the left hemisphere of the brain c) the right hemisphere of the brain d) the frontal lobe of the brain 6 Humans are gradually losing wisdom teeth. Today some people only have three, two, one or even none. What evolutionary advantage do researchers suspect is behind this development? Fewerteeth mean ... a) less occasion for toothache b) more space in the mouth for larger bites of food c) smaller jaws and narrower, more attractive faces QUESTIONS 84 august/september 2023
d) nicer smelling breath 7 The communication between tissues, organs and body parts occurs via electrical signals or messenger substances. The latter include hormones. One of the best known is testosterone, which is essential for the development of male sexual characteristics. Where is it formed? In ... a) the ovaries b) the testicles c) the adrenal cortex d) all of the above 8 Apart from poisonous foods, humans can and do eat(almost) anything that is edible. The digestive tract begins at the mouth and ends at the anus. It measures up to ten metres in length, with numerous digestive organs such as the oesophagus, stomach and intestines attached along the way. The digestive system also ... a) houses 70 per cent of our immune cells b) forms insulin, which regulates blood sugar c) controls blood pressure d) detects and eliminates poison 9 No sooner has a fingertip touched a hot stove than the hand jerks back. The rapid transmission of stimuli in the human body ensures that this happens so quickly throughout the nervous system. It’s about as fast as ... a) Usain Bolt on his world-record run b) a jumbo jet taking off c) the French TGV high-speed train at maximum speed d) a Formula One car at maximum speed 10 The human body ha s 656 muscles that do more than just ensure we can move. The most enduring of muscles, the heart keeps us alive. Over the course of 80 years, the heart beats about three billion times. Yet the strongest muscle is the great ... a) buttock muscle b) masticatory muscle (masseter) c) back muscle d) the glute medius muscle 11 The pianist’s hands seem to fly over the piano keyboard; the boxer keeps his fists tightly clenched; and the painter’s hand guides the brush with extreme precision. All of this and more is made possible by the 27 incredible bones in the hand. How many are in the fingers? a) 14 b) 15 c) 16 d) 17 >> Turn to page 86 for quiz answers rdasia.com 85 Quiz
1 c) The number of genes says little about the complexity of a living being. One water flea has around 31,000 genes. 2 b) The nasal passages alternate every few hours in the majority of people. 3 d) We breathe deeper, so we take in more oxygen. The heart beats faster, which stimulates the metabolism. The brain releases messenger substances that make you happy. 4b) The cerebellum controls the movements significantly. ILLUSTRATION: DE AGOSTINI/GETTY IMAGES The human brain is the most complicated organ that nature has created 5 a) Fibres of the optic nerve of both eyes open into the regions responsible for vision in both hemispheres of the brain. 6c) Presumably the advantage lies in the smaller jaw, which makes the face narrower and potentially more attractive. 7 d) In men, the majority of testosterone is produced in the testicles, with a smaller proportion in the adrenal cortex. The female body also produces small amounts of testosterone in the ovaries and adrenal cortex. 8 a) 70 per cent of the immune cells of the human organism are located in the intestine. 9c) The maximum speed of up to 540 km/h is almost as high as the record set by the French TGV train. 10 b) Our strongest muscle is the masseter, ie the large chewing muscle. It is largely responsible for creating the biting force of the rear teeth of up to 800 Newtons – not even a wolf can do that. 11 a) The thumb has only two bones, while all the other fingers have three. Altogether there are 14 bones in the fingers. ANSWERS: HUMAN BODY QUIZ 86 august/september 2023
BY Rona Maynard FROM THE BOOK S TARTER DOG: A VIRTUAL INTRODUCTION BONUS READ Adopting a dog in my 60s was never part of the plan. But Casey changed everything. 88 august/september 2023
PHOTO: JAIME HOGGE rdasia.com 89
READER’S DIGEST hen my husband talked me into rescuing a dog a few years ago, I worried about the downside: fur all over everything, arguments over walk duty. The time for a dog was decades ago, when we had a son at home to play fetch. At 65, we should be planning our next trip overseas, but Paul had always wanted a dog. For love of my husband, I said yes. But I doubted I could love any dog, much less the inside-friendly dog on offer, a ragged-eared mutt. He had a great story, I’d grant him that. Born unwanted, taught to sit and stay in a prison where incarcerated people train pups for adoption, then sent to a shelter where he waited for a home until he was spirited away to another city by volunteers dedicated to saving dogs from death. We named him Casey. The first thing he did after galloping into our home was drench a chair with pee. He sniffed every corner and finally came to rest with his warm muzzle on my thigh. Maybe I could love him after all. ON CASEY’S FIRST MORNING I briefly forgot we had a dog. I padded out of bed, fuzzy with sleep, to find another creature sprawled on the TV couch. This had happened a good many times before, but in the past that creature was my husband, sleeping in the very spot where I meant to lounge with a cup of coffee and the obituaries section of the newspaper. Paul sleeps best anywhere but the bed, and the TV tends to get him nodding in the small hours. The presence of a dog – our dog – was a marvel. Oh, yes. It’s you. Casey seemed to have expanded since the three of us had curled up with Grey’s Anatomy, two to watch and one to snore. In his languor, he pretty much filled the space, limbs every which way. His torn ear pointed straight up; the other flopped off the couch. I perched on the ribbon of space he’d left me and stroked his flank. Up went all four paws, his way of wishing me good morning. And a fine morning it was, with Casey in it. My ideal morning involved leisurely online perambulations in my bathrobe. At least it had until this day. But Casey needed his morning walk, which fell to me as the resident morning person. I couldn’t be late, or he’d have an accident. Everything we knew about Casey we’d learned from his foster mother, Liz, who handed him over to us. She said I should take him out right after breakfast. Liz had a fenced backyard; all she had to do was open the door. Then she could hang out in her pyjamas if she chose. Maybe make some muffins, do a crossword, call her mother. But Paul and I lived on the eighth floor of a city apartment 90 august/september 2023
Casey is a master of the art of sleeping building. For me, Casey’s morning routine required lipstick, eyebrow pencil and presentable attire. I’d laid everything out the night before – jeans and sweater for me, poop bags and liver treats for Casey. His crimson leash hung on the coat stand. I remembered Paul’s first attempt at walking Casey, the circular stagger outside Liz’s house. I was in for a challenge with this bruiser. Whoever trained him knew something Paul and I didn’t. In my days working in publishing, I used to pull creative people into line. No, you can’t leave work when we’re in crisis mode. You want to misspell a headline “because it looks better that way?” Go back to Year Four. After all the humans I’d tamed, how hard could it be to walk a dog? People did it while texting, hauling groceries and easing strollers over kerbs. The bolder ones did it on skateboards and bikes, and my neighbourhood’s fastest walker, a shepherd mix in an orange vest, scurried alongside a man on a scooter. Clearly, anyone could walk a dog – you didn’t even have to be ambulatory. This morning, we’d barely set out when a callrang out from behind, followed by a burst of laughter: “Who’s walking who?” Good question. We couldn’t seem to find our rhythm. Every few paces, a standoff ensued. My will against Casey’s nose. That nose. Low to the ground, sweeping the air, pulling us forward on a full-tilt quest for anything that rdasia.com 91 My Starter Dog
smelled edible. Down in one running bite went the soggy pizza crust, the nub of chicken in the gritty remains of its batter. Casey dragged me where the nose commanded, shoulders pumping. The exquisite precision of his nose recalled a hummingbird skimming a flower, yet the prize it sought might be the bloody feathers of a crushed pigeon or vomit from someone’s drunken spree. No relic of a living or once-living creature was unpalatable to Casey. When not engaged in the quest for food, the nose evaluated spots for a pee. Casey z ipped across the footpath like a daredevil driver cutting through three lines of traffic, and came to a lurching stop at the hydrant summoning his nose. There he checked the accretion of canine pee that proclaimed to the neighbourhood dogs, I was here! He took his sweet time, he always had pee in reserve for the ritual known as marking. I thought I knew what it meant to walk around my neighbourhood. Check out the movies playing at the local theatre. Take note of a shoe sale, a new wood-oven pizzeria. All the while setting a pace, getting my exercise while my mind floated free. Walking was my gateway to an inner world in which I chose where to direct my attention. Not with Casey. I veered between meandering, waiting and a fair approximation of a slow shuffle, both hands gripping the supposedly hands-free leash that looped around my waist (the dog walker’s equivalent of training wheels). Paul and I had a plan for Casey’s walking, an hour a day from each of us. Why had I worried about Paul holding up his end, when I was the slight one trying to stay on my feet? Pedestrians swerved to avoid us; hazards lo ome d on e v e r y block. Casey tried to chase cars that looked wrong for unfathomable reasons (just when I thought it was only orange taxi cabs that set him off, he’d charge a black minivan). And that was the easy part. Squirrels sent him into warrior mode, with head-turning ululations and acrobatic leaps that nearly knocked me to the ground. Before Casey, squirrels reminded me adorably of Beatrix Potter’s Nutkin. Now they seemed more like battle-hardened ruffians on Game of Thrones, a tribe of them always ready to burst from the nearest sapling. While flying at a squirrel I hadn’t seen in time, Casey ran smack into PEDESTRIANS AVOIDED US; HAZARDS WERE EVERYWHERE. AND CASEY TRIED TO CHASE CARS 92 august/september 2023 READER’S DIGEST
We had a good boy, alright, but it soon became clear that we’d both have to up our walking game. Paul got into trouble at St James Park, beloved for its gazebo and landscaped gardens, when Casey had a noisy meltdown over a squirrel. An elderly man shook his finger at Paul. “That dog of yours is a nuisance. Don’t you realise some of us come here for a little peace and quiet?” He pointed to a wisp of a dog perched on its owner’s lap like a stuffed toy on a satin pillow. “That’s how a dog should behave. And until your dog gets the message, I suggest you keep him out of this park.” The night after Casey was exiled from the park, he lay on what we already called ‘Casey’s couch’, twitching as he snored. I ran my fingers along the cleft in his skull, where his ginger fur darkened to rust. I’d never know for sure what Casey dreamed, but I figured a squirrel was involved. Go, Casey, go. Run the creature down. A dog trainer, Laurie, soon paid us a house call. She looked youngerthan our daughter would be if we’d got around to having one, but dog people on Yelp said she knew her stuff. I’d told her to expect a squirrel-crazed, garbage-chomping rescue mutt, a couple of pedestrians. The woman flashed a tolerant smile; the man scowled at me over his shoulder. At the rate we were going, someone might get hurt. Come to think of it, my shoulder was hurting already. I’d heard of strength training for golf and skiing, but dog walking? I checked my watch. Five more minutes and we’d finish the hour. We. The right word for Casey and me on the couch, gazing into each other’s eyes. Out on the street there wasn’t any we. Intellect against instinct, that’s what there was, intellect being the loser. We couldn’t make it home fast enough. Just as I let my guard down, Casey had a setto in the lobby with a neighbour’s Lab, Betsy, infamous for roving the halls at night. Her owner looked us both up and down, lip curled. “Rescue dog?” To lighten the mood, I mentioned Casey had spent his puppyhood in prison. “You’re brave,” he said, pulling Betsy away from my gaolbird. THE LIFT SEEMED TO CRAWL to the eighth floor. Casey ran to Paul’s arms for some rubbing and the question that cannot be asked less than twice, with escalating volume: “Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy?” I TOLD THE DOG TRAINER TO EXPECT A SQUIRREL- CRAZED, GARBAGE- CHOMPING MUTT rdasia.com 93 My Starter Dog
The unlikeliness of our comforttogether magnifies the joy of it 94 august/september 2023
billed as a Lab/pug mix, although who could say for sure? Laurie was sure. “He’s all hound.” With that pointy snout, he couldn’t be anything else. And this explained a lot about our would-be squirrel assassin. Like every hound who ever chased prey, Casey was designed for the task, with a nose that ranks among the wonders of the animal kingdom. His “squirrel attacks”, as we called them, expressed hi s g reatest gift. Some dogs were born to bark at strangers; ours was born to hunt rodents. I figured we had the better deal. Laurie put Casey through a few paces. He sat, stayed, lay down as he had been taught in prison – and as he’d do for us if we learned to speak his language. “You lucked out with this guy,” Laurie said. “He wants to please.” He could have fooled me, but Laurie was the pro. The three of us took Casey to a freeand-easy park where no one would get fussed about a ruckus. The idea was for Laurie to watch Casey do his worst, and as we neared the first squirrel-inhabited tree he rose – no, soared – to the occasion with his full repertoire of sound effects while I, the clueless human at the end of the leash, stood and bleated, “Casey, stop!” I half-hoped Laurie would exclaim at his antics. If Casey had to raise hell, let him be the loudest, most epically acrobatic hell-raiser she had yet seen. How many squirrel-chasing dogs do back flips, then jump up to try again? For him the leash did not exist, nor did failure. Every squirrel was a promise of victory. Casey was my Don Quixote charging at windmills, my pratfalling Buster Keaton. Laurie watched the show with her hands in the pockets of her hoodie; she’d seen every move before. “Like I said, all hound. You want his attention on you, not the squirrel. That’s going to be your challenge. So let’s get to work.” The Lauries of this world don’t rea lly train dogs. They teach perplexed humans to stop doing what doesn’t work and acquire more constructive habits. Laurie reminded me a little of Annette, our couples’ counsellor back in the striving years. How hard we’d worked with Annette in her basement office with the pine-panelled walls. How thoroughly we’d prepared for every session. If she’d given marks, we’d have aced her course. “You’re remarkably wellmatched,” she once told us, peering through the enormous glasses womP en wore in the days of shoulder pads. HOTO: JAIME HOGGE I WASN’T GETTING THROUGH TO CASEY, THE TRAINER SAID. MY COMMANDS WERE JUST NOISE My Starter Dog rdasia.com 95
“It’s a miracle that you found each other.” Her version of Laurie’s “You lucked out.” With Annette, Paul and I tuned in to the sometimes mystifying but basically well-intentioned people we were at heart. We were about to begin the corresponding process with a dog, who had never forgotten a birthday, stormed out in a huff or blamed either of us for a thing. Compared to making a marriage, training a dog should be a snap. I wasn’t getting through to Casey, Laurie said. My entreaties were meaning less noise, a sound soup of his name. Nature gave Casey a mission: slaughtering creatures who, in his mind, had no right to exist. To interrupt him,I’d have to make some noise. I had three options: whistling, shouting or a vigorous hand clap. I never learned to whistle, and clapping is no good with gloves on. That left shouting. As squirrel after squirrel romped by, I tried to summon a respectable shout: “Casey! Casey!” Paul shook his head (in our class of two he was the star). Shouting had always come easily to him – too easily for my liking, but with dogs it served a purpose. “More authority,” he said. “More volume.” The authority part I could nail. At 65 I’d damned well earned the right to be a feisty old dame. I demanded refunds with aplomb (and got them). I told waiters not to call me “dear” and shambling 20-somethings to make room for me on the footpath. I complained and corrected with ease. But nobody loves a woman who shouts. In my childhood home it was well understood that only my father had the right to shout – and he could erupt without warning. Sober, he quoted Yeats to my sister and me at bedtime. When we modelled new outfits, he would bow to us and ask, like a gentleman from an old movie, “May I have your telephone number?” But when he was drunk or hungover, the smallest thing could get him going, like the double boilerfor his oatmeal. “What’s become of the blasted thing? Is this any way to organise the kitchen?” The rest of us would wake to a percussion band of clatter. And I’d know in the pit of my stomach that the day ahead was going to be a stinker. Fear had a sound: shouting. What I feared was not so much my father’s anger as my own. Because he was a man – the man of the house, in the language of those times – he got to blow off steam. Because I was a girl, I didn’t. I should keep my head down, ANGER COULD CONSUME HIM, BUT UNLIKE ANY HUMAN I’D KNOWN, CASEY DIDN’T HOLD GRUDGES 96 august/september 2023 READER’S DIGEST
bobble-headed flock undid him. Anger consumed him quickly but vanished with the squirrel. Casey’s anger had an urgent purity. Unlike any human I’d known, he didn’t hold grudges. He wouldn’t ruminate on what he could have done to that squirrel if not for me, the spoilsport clutching the leash. Casey and I walked together as a biped and a quadruped, an ageing woman and a young dog, a second-guesser and a creature of impul se. One who cleaned up, one who drooled on the floor. One who compared recipes for roasted Brussels sprouts, one who had to be restrained from licking barf off the footpath. It was our differences that held my attention, rather than the shared pleasure of the outing. Casey had his world, I had mine, and therefore I didn’t think of him and me as “us”. But before long I found myself speaking of the places I shared with Casey – our places, mine and his. The mural where I posed him for a shot, the park where we made friends with a juggler practising his moves. I was beginning to understand who we would be to each other. We were Us now, and it was enough. The unlikeliness of our comfort stay out of Daddy’s way, do my best to placate this overgrown baby in the guise of a man. Now I had Laurie’s permission to shout. More than that, I had marching orders. For Casey’s sake, I would learn to let it rip. AFTER OUR FIRST SESSION WITH LAURIE, I walked Casey with her voice in my head. I practised shouting, “Hey!” when Casey jumped into predator mode. The pavement didn’t split and swallow me up. I sounded loud and proud. Better yet, Casey started to get it – not every time or even half the time, but often enough, especially if I followed “Hey! Ca-a-a-SEY!” with a sharp tug on the leash. Then the treat, then the neck rub. “Good boy,” I would say, as Laurie had taught me. I was asking a lot of Casey. In the presence of a squirrel, he was anger incarnate. His eyes blazed; his hackles rose. I thought hackles were only an idiom until I saw the band of rage down Casey’s back, where his fur is darker and coarser. When they stiffen, he looks bigger, more threatening, as nature intended. He was an officer of the laws of nature, determined to wipe lesser creatures from the earth. One squirrel affronted him; a I WAS BEGINNING TO UNDERSTAND WHO WE WOULD BE TO EACH OTHER: WE WERE “US” NOW rdasia.com 97 My Starter Dog
together magnified the joy of it. As long as squirrels roamed the streets and parks of Toronto, there would be passing bursts of anger that didn’t change a thing. What we had, as a woman and a dog, underscored the miracle of any two fallible beings, committed to opposing points of view, planting the stake in the ground that is Us. Paul will be Paul, Rona will be Rona. In the beginning came a you, a me. One who slept late, and one who equa t ed pu r po s e with rising early. One who left the marriage when our son, Ben, was a toddler, saying, “I never loved you” (me, exhausted by my young marriage and younger child), and one who said, “It’s not over. Let’s try again.” One who knew what things should be, and one who didn’t get it (actually, that would be both of us). From differences and disappointments, we created Us. And as Us, we brought Casey home. Us-ness, once you’ve found it, can accommodate a fair bit of tension. Some days I couldn’t stop Casey from charging at squirrels number one through 17, but he calmed down by squirrel 99. With a multitude of squirrels about, we always had another chance. I arrived at a grudging respect for the squirrels, who would stare Casey down with what looked to my human eyes like amusement. Squirrel by squirrel, day by day, we started to find our groove. We sometimes walked entire blocks without incident, Casey’s tags clinking in time with my steps and his leash vibrating gently in my hand, now that I’d learned not to grip it. He knew every variation on our route. If I didn’t pick his favourite, he would tug, as if to ask, “You’re sure about this?” I was sure. A slight disagreement on the route was no big deal for a compatible pair like us. WE WERE RIPPING THROUGH our value pack of poop bags. Casey was remarkably productive, often filling several bags in a single walk. I didn’t mind, though. Scooping gave me a chance to do one thing right every day. And the humble task literally grounded me. It forced me to tend the cracked and mottled footpath, the sodden leaves at the edge of a walking trail. It was a bondage I shared with all dog folk who care enough to do the right thing. The woman bending from her wheelchair with practised caution, the elderly walker favouring a bad knee. The young parents exclaiming, as their toddler scooped IF I DIDN’T PICK HIS FAVOURITE ROUTE, IT WAS NO BIG DEAL FOR A COMPATIBLE PAIR LIKE US 98 august/september 2023 READER’S DIGEST