June 17.Day 168. Don't judge a book by its cover

My elderly neighbour Margaret was reeling off a list of why she has some "issues" with a distant relative. "And", she said "she doesn't like dogs. You can't trust someone who doesn't like dogs, can you?"
While I'm pretty sure there are some entirely trustworthy persons who are not dog fanciers I see her point. What she is really saying is that you are more likely to trust someone with the same value system and liking dogs is very much central to Margaret's world view.
If not liking dogs is a reason not to trust someone I suppose the reverse could also be true. People with dogs already have a common ground with other dog owners. So it was with Jimmy. Jimmy is from Philip Island and this afternoon he was at South Bank with his mate from Melbourne and their three dogs. Now normally I am a little bit inclined to make judgements on face value and men with piercings, huge novelty sunglasses, no shirt and gruesome tattoos I might normally avoid. But our dogs decided a chat was in order and Jimmy was every bit the character he appeared. He's heading to Airlie Beach and had intended to spend only one night in "boring Brisbane" but decided he rather liked the place. He's still he a week later. So liking Brisbane AND liking dogs seems Jimmy and I had far more in common than I thought at first.