Passing the cholera cemetery from the station and being a busybody - like everybody else today - I remarked to a woman that her dog should be on a lead. “So should lots of people but they’re not,” she replied.

I thought about the 1,100 people killed by dogs each year, including babies, but kept quiet for once.

Waiting for the Number 6 bus in Rougier Street I chatted with a man on crutches.

He went on to tell me that he had been knocked flat by an enormous dog running loose and that his head was injured too. I wished the woman could have heard him.

Dogs are not a problem but irresponsible owners are.

John Zimnoch, Osbaldwick