Daisy and Milly in happier days
In August Support Services Manager Marita Walsh sent an email around the department with the heading "Milly and the retirement (I should be so lucky!)! "
Quickly dispelling the notion that she was planning to retire, Marita pointed out that instead it was her mischievous cocker spaniel Milly, who had been regularly keeping us entertained with her antics over the previous year and a half via regular emails from Marita, which helped many of us get through those early uncertain days of lockdown.
When Marita wrote in August, things were getting back to normal, or as Marita called it "the new normal" (still no hugs!). Marita wrote (on Milly's behalf): "We have been through a lot together these past 17 months, but with the advent of people returning to work in the department (in a hybrid way of course) and people's lives getting busier and busier, I have decided to hang up the towel as they say...well, Milly's towel that is."
When lockdown started, Marita unleashed her creative side by circulating a weekly email filled with lighthearted cartoons and news of neighbourhood characters (featuring 90+ Betty). The email always included a few photos of Milly and her partner in crime Daisy -- describing their triumphs and disasters. Daisy sadly passed away in August of 2020, but Milly continued to entertain us weekly.
In her final email, Marita recalled Betty's shopping challenges for toilet roll and garden twine, and of course the sadness of Betty's passing from Covid. She remembered how we all were growing our hair long (including Milly - see photo left), the challenges of her dietary ups and downs during lockdown, as well as including the usual photos of Milly being charming and, let's admit it, somewhat eccentric.
And now it is with great sadness that we report that Milly also passed away recently.
Marita says that Milly and Daisy were very distant relations. "Daisy was a handsome dog: independent, very clever and trained very well. Milly was the runt of the litter and although she was clever and trained by comparison to most dogs, not like Daisy. However, she always had a baby face and looked like a puppy until very recently. She was never happier than when she was touching one of us, usually just with a foot resting on our leg, as she was very devoted to the 'family.'"
Let us hope that Milly will be joining Daisy in doggy heaven (Always a full dog bowl! Posties who let you bite them!). So thank you Marita and Milly for cheering us up through lockdown.
Some of the many faces of Milly.
