Harry and the strange lead day

A strange thing happened the other day. Harry and me were out walking when we realised we had lost Harry's lead (leash in US parlance).

I asked a couple with their dog if they had seen a red lead.

They said they had not, but they too had lost their dog lead and were looking for it, and they'd never ever lost a dog lead before. (I must admit we have, several times.)

Later that day my wife went to a friend's house where there were two dogs near each other tethered with leads. A little while later the dogs were heard and seen bounding round the house. Both had managed to chew through each other's lead.