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Four guys asked their new neighbor if they could walk her dog. Then the dog wrote back.

"If you ever get bored, we are more than happy to look after him/her."

via Stevieticks / Instagram

A black dog and a note form "the boys from number 23."

If you've lived your whole life with a dog, a home has to feel pretty empty without one. Your heart has to feel like there's something missing as well. When Jack McCrossan, originally from Scotland, moved to Bristol, England with his three friends, they were bummed out to learn that their landlord didn't allow dogs.

So when they saw a beautiful black Sheprador (a German Sheppard Lab mix) in their neighbor's window, they knew that had to become buddies with her. They wrote the dog's owner, Sarah Tolman, a letter asking to arrange a play date with the dog. "If you ever need someone to walk him/her, we will gladly do so," they wrote.

"If you ever get bored (we know you never will, but we can dream), we are more than happy to look after him/her. If you want to come over and bring him/her to brighten our day, you are more than welcome. If you want to walk past our balcony windows so we can see him/her, please do," the letter continued.


"We hope this doesn't come too strong, but our landlord won't allow pets, and we've all grown up with animals. The adult life is a struggle without one," they wrote. "Yours sincerely, The boys from number 23," the letter concluded.

Soon after, the boys in 23 received a response from the dog herself, Stevie Ticks, accepting the offer. However, it may have been written by her human, Sarah Tolman. In the letter, Stevie shares a bit about herself, saying she's two years and four months old, was adopted in Cyprus, and that she's "very friendly and full of beans." (The boys shouldn't worry about a gassy hound, in England, "full of beans" means lively.)


"I love meeting new people and it would be great if we can be friends. I must warn you that the price of my friendship is 5 x ball throws a day and belly scratches whenever I demand them," the letter continued. A few days later, the boys got to meet Stevie. "Meeting Stevie was great!" McCrossan told Buzzfeed. "She was definitely as energetic as described. We got to take her for a walk and she wouldn't stop running!"

black labrador, dogs, dog-walkers, kind nieghbors, stevieticks, bristol, ukA black labrador (representative image).via Canva/Photos

Tolman thought the boys' letter was a fantastic gesture in an era where, quote often, neighbors are strangers. "In a day and age where people don't really know or speak to their neighbors, it was really nice for them to break down that barrier," she said. After the story went viral, she saw it as an opportunity for people to share their love of dogs with the world. "My mother and I are amazed at all the love we've received from around the world these past few days," Tolman wrote as Stevie. "If you have a doggo in your life, share that love with those around you."

A lot has changed in the past 6 years since this story warmed hearts around the globe. The boys have since moved away, but as of September 2024, Stevie is around 8 years old and still doing well. Her keeper and Sarah's partner, Chris Bowley, shared an update on Instagram. "[The boys] sadly moved out of Bristol. However, we have always tried to keep the ethos going of Stevie having as many friends and meetups as possible," Bowley wrote.


This article originally appeared six years ago.

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This British soldier celebrated the queen's birthday with a nod to changing traditions

On Queen Elizabeth's 92nd birthday, some pretty awesome history happened in the United Kingdom.

With style, swagger, and an incredibly dapper look, Indian-born British guardsman Charanpreet Singh Lall became the first soldier to don a turban during the Trooping the Colour parade.

Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.

Trooping the Colour is a celebration that has commemorated sovereign birthdays for more than 250 years. It also functions as a display of military drills, music, and horsemanship. Marching alongside his colleagues who were wearing their well-known bearskin hats (ceremonial military caps that date back to the 17th century) Lall proudly wore one of the most visible representations of his religion while showing his pride for his country.

"Being the first turban-wearing Sikh to troop the colour and to be part of the escort it is a really high honour for myself, and hopefully for everyone else as well," Lall told BBC.

Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.

Originally from Punjab, India, Lall's family moved to the U.K. when he was just a baby. Living in Leicester for most of his life, the 22-year-old joined the British army in 2016, and has worked to bring representation and important changes to one of the country's most traditional industries.

By highlighting his religion, Lall is not only making history, he's making representation matter in the U.K.

"I hope that more people like me, not just Sikhs but from other religions and different backgrounds, that they will be encouraged to join the Army," Lall said.

Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.

Known for its commitment to traditionalism and European heritage, Britain isn't exactly expected to budge on certain traditions. But people like Lall are changing that. As the country welcomes one of its first black duchesses, Lall joins a changing British landscape that prominently shows people of all ethnicities, genders, and religions in important, respected roles. It's a remarkable, long overdue change that can create space for other British citizens who want to do good things in their country, while also respecting their culture and beliefs.

Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images.

"I hope that people watching ... will just acknowledge it and that they will look at it as a new change in history," he said. "I'm quite proud and I know that a lot of other people are proud of me as well,"

People are definitely watching, and they're incredibly proud.

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We all feel like a sad ghost sometimes. This comic series captures that perfectly.

Lize Meddings knows what it’s like to deal with mental health issues in your 20s.

After graduating university, Lize — a Bristol, U.K. artist — said she felt sad, lost, and adrift. But she used those feelings to draw the first comic of what would be The Sad Ghost Club.

“[They] were about being in this 'sad ghost club' and how it felt to be a part of it,” Lize wrote in an email.

The Sad Ghost Club. All images via Lize Meddings, used with permission.

Eventually, that one comic turned into a series of comics about sadness.

Lize's first comic, published in March 2014, was a wordless comic about feeling left out. It had a resounding response on the internet.  

Social media pages were made for The Sad Ghost Club, and it took off from there.

She followed that up with the “Guide to Not Being Sad,” about which she told us, “I tried hard to make sure none of the rules were preachy, none of them were offering some trick to 'not be sad any more' and it was all things most people would be able to achieve no matter their circumstance.”

Lize met with her future business partner Laura Cox and they bonded over their shared struggles with mental illness.

“When me and Laura met to discuss her joining me, we got onto me struggling with trichotillomania and her struggling with dermatillomania (hair pulling and skin scratching, to sum it up) and being able to talk about it openly, with someone who understood, was so positive,”Lize told us. “Suddenly the shame was gone, it was this thing that we both did, and that was ok.”

Laura reaffirmed The Sad Ghost Club's mission and gave it new life and direction. For the two, it became a sort of open letter to their younger selves.

After Laura joined The Sad Ghost Club team in 2015, she suggested they meet with local charity Off the Record.

The Bristol-based charity offers free mental health services to people aged 11-25, and Laura wanted to contribute to their cause.

“They were so supportive of what we were doing and encouraged us to continue,” Lize said. And it gave them motivation for the new direction of the club. Most recently, Lize and Laura started a "Sketchbook Club" with Off the Record, an event for teens to be creative in a positive environment.

Not all of the Sad Ghost comics have happy endings, and some don’t even have words.

But these comics have built a shame-free community online, and that's super important. The artists even offer workshops in the Bristol area, as well as online workshops for their international fans. They have continued to publish comics online and sell comic zines through their site too.

Art therapy like these comics has been proven to help people with mental health issues.

And according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, about 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. experiences issues with mental health in a given year.

“Some days are ok, some are awful, and I like to think we're honest about it. All the comics are based on things we've felt and experienced, so sometimes it doesn't end on a light note, and hey, that's ok,” Lize wrote.

These creative, funny, and thoughtful comics aren't just patronizing self-help listicles either.

They're a real way of sharing, learning, and connecting with others about mental health.

Lize said she thinks part of the appeal of the club is that, “maybe the guide to not being sad doesn't make you any less sad, but you've got something to hold, and read, and look at, and be reminded that it is not just you.”

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When trolls attacked this fat, gay, black immigrant, Ireland answered perfectly.

On Monday, Aug. 22, 2016, Michelle Marie became the official voice of Ireland — at least on social media — for the duration of a week.

Since 2012, the @Ireland Twitter account has featured a different person behind the handle every week, all of whom have some connection to Ireland or the Irish diaspora.

Each person has their own unique voice and perspective to offer to the account's 40,000-plus followers. And Michelle Marie, who normally tweets as @ChocCurvesModel, is certainly no exception:

Marie is a single mother and plus-sized model, as well as an immigrant from the U.K. She's also black, and, as she later disclosed, gay.

Unfortunately, there are still a handful of people in this world who can't fathom the idea that a fat, gay, black woman could live in Ireland, let alone be its voice for a week. And they wanted her to know — calling her "subhuman," saying that Ireland is only for the Irish, and telling her to leave the country and so on and so forth — in that monstrous way that only anonymous people on the internet are capable.

This is just a sampling of the hate that was out there; much of it was reported and deleted, although not before they were captured in screengrab perpetuity.

Sadly, this part shouldn't be surprising — though there is a certain irony to the fact that, according to their profiles, most of these racist trolls actually lived in the United States and thus almost certainly have no say in what does or does not constitute "Irish-ness."

Did I mention that was all just on her first day as the voice of @Ireland?

But as a dedicated champion of body positivity and self-love, Marie was determined to use the @Ireland platform to make her voice heard.

And it wasn't limited to racist vitriol, although those probably made up the bulk of it. There were also plenty of insults about her weight — which, sadly, is a frequent occurrence for plus-sized people. Fortunately, Marie was a pro and deftly shut down the haters:

Despite her relentless positivity, those few nasty voices still got to her— an experience familiar to anyone who's ever dealt with bullying. By the end of her first day as @Ireland, Marie had had enough.

I understood the @Ireland account to be a platform for all people who have an Irish connection of a grá [love] for the country/culture. [...] Many non-natives, non-residents, and persons of colour have gone before me on the account so I felt welcome to apply.

I expected trolls, and backlash, and criticism. But today I have experienced racism, sexism, fatphobia, and homophobia to a degree I have never known. I have had 8hrs of nonstop hate thrown at me. I am hurt, shocked, and appalled.

"I have become accustomed to a certain level of trolling online as it comes with the territory, but I have never known anything like what happened this week — a relentless barrage of extreme hatred and prejudice," Marie told Upworthy later that same week.

Perhaps even more inspiring were the droves of people who came to her defense and offered their support for her voice, and her continued presence on the Emerald Isle.

("Craic" is an Irish word that basically means "a good time.")

Even Patricia Arquette came to her defense — yes, the Patricia Arquette!

Sure, Marie might not be the stereotypical poster child for the Emerald Isle. But, that's exactly why it's refreshing to have a voice like hers represent the country as part of a modern, global society.

Luckily, there were plenty of Irish citizens who seemed to agree.

Her legion of supporters were evidence not only of the Irish reputation for hospitality, but also that diversity and acceptance are both growing across the world.

Thanks to that support, Marie returned to the @Ireland Twitter account on Tuesday with a renewed energy.

And she continued to share her inspirational insights throughout the rest of the week.

"I have been really touched and taken aback by the level of kindness and support I have received," she said.

"The U.K. tends to turn a blind eye to the less favourable things that happen, whereas Ireland has stood up and spoken up against it. I feel Ireland is ready to embrace change and diversity."

Of course, it wasn't all heavy social commentary. She also chatted with followers about their favorite places across the Emerald Isle and her appreciation for the Irish language and more personal subjects like body positivity, motherhood, and adoption.

As terrible as it was to watch someone like Marie suffer through so much hatred, the response that followed was a powerful reminder of why it matters that we continue hearing voices like hers.

After her whirlwind week as the voice of Ireland, Marie went back to tweeting and blogging about body positivity as well as helping to organize Ireland's first-ever Body Pride festival — proving that heroes come in all colors, shapes, and sizes.

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