Penny, our Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier, has developed a case of canine cyclophobia. She has become deathly afraid of bikes. Which is unfortunate, because the trails along which I like to walk her also attract those evil mechanical monstrosities.
It also doesn’t seem to fit with the vision of Ireland I have in my head (Wheatens are an Irish breed), which includes lovable old men gliding through quaint villages on their trusty old bikes. Dogs yelping in fear would spoil the scene.
Or maybe that’s my vision of Wales. Which is, of course, based almost entirely on two screenings of The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. So if there are any bicycles in the film, then yes, I’m thinking of Wales.
I’m not sure what it is about bikes that has Penny spooked. She’s not a total Luddite: she likes cars just fine. Maybe it’s the closer cooperation of man and machine that does it; she fears cybernetics and the mechanization of body, mind, and soul.
Or the extra height it gives people freaks her out. (That’s probably it, since she’s not scared of kids on bikes.)
Sorry to spoil your vision of Ireland, but there were no loveable old men riding bikes through the countryside. The bikes have been replaced with speeding cars. And we only saw 1 dog the whole time.
Well, who am I supposed to trust more, somebody who’s actually been to Ireland or a movie set in WWII Wales co-starring Irish actor Colm Meaney?
I trusted the movie The Quiet Man starring American John Wayne for my vision of Ireland.