No essay this week. No compassion for snakes. Probably because of too many episodes of Dirty John in a row;Tender is the Night; and the first chapter of The Last Battle (Shift the Ape’s manipulation of Puzzle the Donkey is a brilliant introduction to emotional bullying, gaslighting and guilt-tripping for anyone interested in furthering their studies on this or helping their children understand such matters). So only this picture of these dogs I’ve sent looking for Sipho the painter who swindled me out of a lot of money. Last month on account of his supposed dead only son, and then last week on his graduation after 19 years of after-hours studying and nearly committing suicide. He said he would bring it back, but of course he hasn’t. For all my soft-hearted friends who have confirmed falling for tricksters over the years. Cling on to the light people. If Sipho the painter comes to your door do not let him in.