Essay: Fay Weldon – “Live like a dog, alone”

“ He would use her capital up turn himself into an arms dealer or some such and the run off with a girl from his own country of his own age”. All by her self, lonely and then he comes into the picture. This story is a story written by Fay Weldon, but could it be some kind of  story of her live and her feelings from the past or is it just an imagination?
1. Give a summary of “Live Like a Dog, Alone”
In 2002 Fay Weldon writes the story, “Live like a dog, alone”. In they story we follow to persons, Miriam and the taxi driver. Miriam (our main character) is a middle-aged single woman, with no children but a wonderful job. One night at a conference –Stress, the new Pandemic- she is the keynote speaker.  She has a heart failure, so an ambulance takes her to a hospital because her heart is racing, so she needs medical intervention, which happens every few months. In the morning, after 4 o´clock, she was waiting for a taxi to pick her up.  The way from the hospital and home is not an ordinary trip. The whole story takes places inside the taxi, where Miriam and the driver talks, but is not an ordinary conversation between a costumer and the driver. The driver tells Miriam about his thoughts about living alone and he seemed quite unhappy a depressed. Miriam and the drive see the different on their “similar life”, which gives them an understanding of other people lives.
2. Characterize Miriam and the way she lives
Miriam is a single woman with no children and who lives alone, but in a elegant house in St. John´s Wood (London).  However, she has been married but her ex husband ran off with an English actress. She is an independent woman who runs a really successful nursing agency and she has also been voted for “Businesswoman of the year “. She is a woman of many words. She is really helpful and always does her best.  A great example of that is in the beginning of the story. She has just got out of the hospital 4 in the morning, and still she managed to listen and pay attention to the driver who complains about his life. Even though she is exhausted, she listens and also she has a meeting 10 o´clock she won´t miss. This indicates a strong independent woman. We can also compare Miriam a bit to the writer, because Fay Weldon was/ is a successful woman that lived in England and got married and the divorced. It could easily be a part form Fay Weldon’s past that she just has written from Miriam perspective with a bit changes.
3. Comment on the title
I think the title “ Live like a dog, alone” can be seen from to different kind of views. On the one hand we have the driver, because he feels alone.  He left Kosovo 3 years ago, he has no family in London or any friends, and he only got himself. The only thing he got in his life is his job so he can get through the days.
On the other hand we have Miriam. She is surrounded by so many people each day, has great job but she still feels alone, just like a dog. Surrounded by a human-family and get food and a blanket to sleep on, but still is all by it selves in the end.
4. Discuss the ending
When the drives turns into her street where she lives, she thinks about how it would go. When she says that “she would ask him in, how they would have sex, how they would end up getting married, how he would use her capital up and the run off with a girl from his own country of his own age”, she is thinking about her ex-husband the thing he did to her. Then the driver says that “ I would never let any woman of mine go to that hospital on her own”, he touches a sore point, her weak spot, her loneliness.
I think the ending shows us that Miriam has changed over the story. In the beginning she is a person that only thinks about other people and their feelings but she realizes (finally) that she has to take care of herself and I think that’s why she invites the driver into her house for a cup of coffee (or maybe some more)
5. Write your own speech entitled “Stress, the new pandemic.”
Stress, the new pandemic
Stress is harmful and it is taking on our lives. As you might know, stress is a fact of the human life, but we see different levels of stress, stress related diseases and some has lifestyle diseases. We see this every day and if we look through the history it abnormal what we are experiencing these days. It is the new illness all over the world and it is causing so many lives, more than smoking does.  Stress has a really strong impact in how we experience our lives and it prevents us from living live to the fullest. Much of the stress in our lives is not visible, but when we feel the stress symptoms, many people are experiencing physical consequences which can result in prolonged stress.  A lot of people will feel the symptoms as a raised blood pressure, suppress the immune system, worsen allergies, it increase the risk of heart attack and so on.  So to reduce stress you can move your body frequently, have a positive conversation; reduce your intake of, among other things, alcohol, and so on.