Boo, hiss, clink, yap, clap

I saw the dog-catcher in Jaffna today, slowly pushing his cartoonish cage ahead of him, looking only marginally more approachable than the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. As for the subsequent treatment of captive curs, toe-curling rumours abound. Happily enough, he's not the most zealous hunter of hounds, and many of the same people who normally curse the very existence of the strays (as I do when they're all barking at night) surreptitiously usher one or two into their houses until he's moved on. Perhaps they've all seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and 101 Dalmations, too.