A cats got her own opinion of human beings. She don't say much, but you can tell enough to make you anxious not to hear the whole of it --Jerome K. Jerome

If there was such a thing as a Krypton Factor for cats Dave would be a champion. A few nights ago there was a commotion in the kitchen at around 2am but thankfully it was not burglars, it was Dave attacking the cat proof food recycling bin. I put the bin safely out of his way and trudged back to bed. The next morning I came down to find an open food recycling bin and an work of abstract art made from tea bags and crusts set out on the kitchen floor. Dave gave me a penetrating look and I was left in no doubt that he disapproves of cat proof containers. He doesn't eat tea bags and he's not fond of crusts, he was just proving that as far as he is concerned nothing is cat proof. Cats are such wonderful communicators, it only requires a look or an almost imperceptible flick of the tail for Dave to convey absolute contempt. 

As I picked up the debris and then cleaned the kitchen floor I realised how much of my time is taken up attending to the needs of an assortment of animals. We only have three cats, but my mum and stepfather are both frail so I help them with their animals too. Their elderly cat Jessica is beautiful, but she's as wild and unpredictable a tiger and it takes nerves of steel (and protective clothing) to get her into the cat basket when she needs to go to the vet. Shopping for the cat takes far longer than anyone would believe possible because because mum has to examine every flavour and brand of cat food to decide whether Jessica would like it. Then after lots of deliberation she buys the same combination of brands that she always buys!

Lucy is my favourite of mum's three dogs, when she came from Wood Green Animal Shelter she was pathetically thin and afraid of her own shadow, but now she is healthy and happy. One of her parents was a Shih Tzu and the other a Border Collie - an improbable liaison which probably involved a step ladder! She combines the intelligence and behaviour of a (rather neurotic) Border Collie with the build and colouring of a Shih Tzu and despite her difficult past she has a lovely friendly nature. She seems to be especially attached to me, she follows me like a shadow, sits next to me whenever I sit down and when I stop stroking her she nudges my arm with her nose to get my attention - which often results in spilt tea and a disgraced dog! 

Bobby and Misty the other two Shih Tzus are a little younger than Lucy, and completely bonkers. They are brother and sister but Bobby is twice the size of Misty, he is gentle and friendly but Misty is a little spitfire and what she lacks in height she makes up for in attitude. Taking them to the groomers is a nightmare, it's like having chimps in the car, Bobby cries because he has left my mum behind and Misty spends the entire journey telling other road users to go away! She also objects to the car radio, if I turn it on she barks frantically and searches for the people hiding in the car. Needless to say, I prefer not to take them out in the car more often than absolutely necessary! 

Shopping for their food is a nightmare, Bobby is a solid little chap and despite being reassured by the vet that he is the correct weight for his size my mum worries that he doesn't eat. Getting him to eat seems to have become an obsession for my mum, so we loiter endlessly in the dog food section looking for new possibilities to tempt him to eat. Lucy eats reasonably well (as long as no one looks at her) and she is the easiest of the three dogs to shop for. It probably only takes about 15 minutes for my mum to consider every option and then decide to buy her regular brand of dog food! 

The other member of the household is Fred the tortoise who has been part of the family since my childhood. He is probably the most pampered tortoise in the county and there are times when I envy his lifestyle! In October he retires to his winter quarters and sleeps until the spring when the days become warmer again. His summer quarters, an open fronted hutch in a large pen has to be moved around the lawn so that he can enjoy fresh grass and plenty of dandelions (his favourite). Throughout the spring and summer he munches his way through a monumental amount of salad and such like. Mum insists on having a bird net over the pen to stop them from stealing his food and every time it rains my mum covers his run with a tarpaulin so that he will not get wet, then when the sun comes out she adjusts the tarpaulin so that he has plenty of shade. So as you can see one small tortoise manages to dominate the daily routine of the household!

A couple of years ago we made the mistake of buying a multi hanger bird feeder for my stepfather so that he could enjoy watching the birds through the window. It was a success, in fact it was too successful, feeding the birds seems to dominate their lives! They get through unbelievable quantities of seed, sunflower seeds, fat balls and assorted pellets and every couple of weeks I'm dispatched to the pet superstore to buy a trolley load of supplies for the birds! Judging by the amount of food they eat it is a wonder that any of the local birds can still fly! 

I wouldn't be without my pets, but they are not quite as pampered as my mums. If the people who believe in reincarnation are proved right I hope that I will come back as a tortoise because Fred seems to have a happy and untroubled life!

"The world was my oyster but I used the wrong fork" - Oscar Wilde

Robbie had undercarriage problems at the end of last week. On Thursday I bought him a Lego City police van set with the police dog and the police man minifigure. He sat down at the table to build it with a big smile on his face, but after a few minutes he announced that his undercarriage was missing. We checked but there was no sign of it in the box, all the other bits were there, but they were useless with the vital part missing. So Friday saw back at the shop in search of the missing part, the things I do to put a smile on his face! He was delighted when he got home and the part was waiting for him on the table. He built the police van, equipped the minifigure with an impossibly large pair of handcuffs and then called me over to admire his work - he even set the scene by creating a range of police dog noises! Okay, I  know he is a bit weird, but it is a harmless pass time, there are plenty of worse things that he could be doing. Anyway seeing him smile makes me happy too.


This morning he cuddled up to me in bed and somehow got on to the subject of one of his odd little obsessions. We have two different sets of cutlery, but Robbie will only use a three pronged fork while my son insists on only using a four pronged fork. They are as bad as each other, but both try to convince me that the other is much worse when it comes to weird obsessions! Robbie warmed to his theme and went on to tell me about the perfect dimensions of a tea spoon. Apparently there has been a serious upset at work, his personal tea spoon which was perfect in every way has been stolen! According to Robbie it is irreplaceable - but that will not stop him trying, he intends to scour ebay in search of a replacement! I scored a minor triumph, I managed to distract him before he got on to the subject of knives! I'm sure I haven't heard the last of his very specific cutlery requirements, but there is only so much that I can cope with in one day.  

As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat. Ellen Perry Berkele

Returning home from holiday felt like coming back to reality with a bump. We still have the huge cloud of the disputed CSA arrears hanging over us, as well as various other worries and uncertainties, and I really need to find another job. When we walked into the house there was no one there to welcome us, no wagging tail, just a dog shaped space where Meg should have been, I am really going to miss her, she was part of our family.

The cats were doing their own thing, Oreo was at the top of the stairs watching the birds out of the window and Dave was dozing on the sofa, he chose not to notice our arrival. Usually he would come to me straight away, but when I put my hand out to touch him he turned away, making it very clear that he was not happy with me. We had loads to do on Sunday evening, so there wasn't much time to think about Dave, but he managed to radiate disapproval, he was punishing me for going away and leaving him. He kept up the hostility until lunchtime on Monday, then when I sat down with my laptop he came and sat on the back of my chair, then after a little while I noticed that he had moved silently on to my lap and was purring loudly - I had been forgiven!


'For a man to truly understand rejection, he must first be ignored by a cat.' Anon

There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief - Aeschylus

To say that we have had a bad few weeks would be an understatement, I wrote before about the horror of receiving a bill for close on £17,000 dating back fourteen years and finding it practically impossible to provide evidence from that long ago to prove what Robbie was doing then and that he was not liable for the bill. The worry about the alleged debt has been crushing and the work involved to challenge it has not only been exhausting it has taken over our lives. However other shattering events have made us realise that our troubles pale into insignificance compared to the sorrow that others have to face. A young girl known to one of my children killed herself a week ago. I can only begin to imagine the total desolation that her parents must feel; it is such a terrible waste of a young and talented life, it is so totally pointless that words fail me.

It seems wrong to write about the death of a pet in the same post as the tragic loss of a young woman on the brink of adulthood. I mean no disrespect, but to us the loss of Megan was extremely painful. A week ago I came home from work to find that she was unsteady on her feet, she could walk, but not very well and she seemed to be having difficulty eating – a sure sign that something was wrong. Meg and Robbie were great friends and like Robbie Meg not only cleared her own plate in record time, she would clear everyone else’s scraps! Meg was about nine months old when we adopted her from a rehoming centre; she was a failed sheepdog - because she was afraid of sheep! She was afraid of all sorts of things, but she was a very good natured dog with a passion for ball games - she could handle a football far better than most of the England team! She was about fifteen and very much part of our family, we knew that she would not last forever, but we were not ready to lose her. That evening it became clear that she had suffered a stroke and the only kind option was to have her put to sleep rather than allow her to suffer. We miss her very much, even the cats miss her, but she had a good life and she brought a lot of happiness to our lives. 

'Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole'.

For a Man to Truly Understand Rejection, He Must First Be Ignored By a Cat

I think after recent events Robbie would be delighted to be ignored by our cats. He is the one who usually feeds them so you would think that he would be their favourite person in the world, but cats are fickle. They leave Meg the dog to look adoringly at Robbie while they  give him aggravation  every time he is late feeding them - it serves him right for teaching them to tell the time!! If Robbie does not get up on time Oreo meows outside our bedroom door demanding to be fed, and if Robbie stops off at the bathroom on the way downstairs Oreo head-buts the door demanding instant attention. This usually results in a stream of abuse emanating from the bathroom!


Meg adores Robbie, she has been a good dog, but now she is old, frail and more than a little senile and she does some crazy things sometimes. Robbie had bought a big bag of Starbucks coffee for a friend of ours. He had even had it ground to be used in a cafetiere, but he made a mistake and left it near his chair in the lounge. I came home one morning to find the house smelling like Starbucks and the lounge covered in coffee. It made her violently sick, so when I had cleared up the coffee, I had to clear up after her - thank goodness we don't have carpet! A few days later she stole a bag of flour from the kitchen and trailed flour all through the house, she looked like a ghost - and she almost became one when Robbie saw what she had done! Clearing up flour is harder than it sounds, especially when most of it is on the dog!!


The cats don't like to be outdone and one of them decided to go one step further with some tactical vomiting! Robbie insists on displaying his Dr Martens on the stairs, a pair for almost every step. It was just too tempting, not content with covering the front of his favourite purple boots the fat, furry feline (as Robbie called him) vomited into his blue boots. Guess who had to clean it up - I get all the best jobs!!

All Good Things Must Come to An End

On Saturday morning we made an early start and after packing the car we were on the road by just after 8am. It was refreshing to get on the road again after the very narrow (and sometimes scary) Cornish lanes. I was very sorry that our holiday was at an end, but since we had to go home I just wanted to get the long journey behind me.

It seemed to take forever to get to Exeter but eventually we were on M5 and Exeter was behind us. We stopped at the services and managed to lose Robbie. Sam Laura and I had all got back to the car, as sat there enjoying a long awaited cup of coffee and a snack I saw three trains go past, but still no Robbie. I thought there must be something seriously wrong if Robbie was missing out on trains, they were only FGW but even so trains are like magnets to Robbie. I tried to phone him but there was no reply, I seriously considered driving off without him because I didn't want to lose the advantage of an early start. Eventually he appeared and all became clear, he had been to Mc Donalds to by breakfast and there was a massive queue. He knew better than to buy anything for me, so I drove of as the others tucked into stinky breakfast snacks. I wish I could train Robbie not to hum when he eats, it really drives me mad but he claims he doesn't know he is doing it.

Robbie survived and we made steady progress towards Bristol and then on to the M4, we made a brief second stop at a service station, this time Robbie only escaped my clutches long enough to buy a Rail magazine before being escorted back to the car. The rest of the journey was uneventful, I got a bit irritated with the sat nav because it wanted me to go a different way and I knew that my way was better. That woman gets a real edge to her voice when I don't follow her directions, in fact I am fairly sure that she sighs when she says 'recalculating'. My ideal sat nav would have the voice of David Attenborough, I would follow him anywhere. To be fair the sat nav is a whole lot better than Robbie because it doesn't shout out when it sees a train, it doesn't fall asleep when it should be looking at the signposts and it doesn't time every journey according to rail times!

We got home safely at about 2.30pm, so we made reasonable time. Sam insisted on being dropped off at his girlfriend's house and as soon as we got back Laura went dashing off to uni to see her friend before she goes home. I was too tired to face unloading the car, we just took the essentials inside and after a welcome cup of tea I went to bed for a well earned nap - I love my bed. I had been looking forward to seeing Emily, but I had to wait until the evening to see her. Meg (the dog) and Dave and Oreo (cats) were pleased to see us, but I think it will take Dave a few days to completely forgive me for abandoning him, he thinks he is my shadow.

On The Edge

Photo of Pitsford Water by Black Kite


I have had a whole week away from the blog, the longest time ever, and the cause of my absence was Robbie -he broke my laptop! He refuses to admit that it was his fault, but he had his hands on it (trying to install something that I didn't want in the first place) when it turned up it's toes. His denial is rather like the person who fired a gun saying that the gun was innocent it was the bullet that caused the problem! He then went on to make a bad situation worse by messing around with the hard drive when I told him not to, so now I have lost all my files. The title of this post could relate to me being read to commit murder, I certainly feel angry enough to harm him, but I am not dwelling on that, the title of this post is about my visit to the waters edge on Friday evening.

I have been abandoned once again, early on Friday morning Robbie packed his bags and informed me that he was going to play trains and he will not be back until Sunday, to say that I was unimpressed is an understatement! Later in the say I found that even the dog has a better social life than I do, she had been invited to a barbecue (with Sam) and she needed a lift. The barbecue was to be held at Brixworth Country Park at the edge of Pitsford Reservoir. Sam hurried me along and we arrived in good time for a 6pm start, unfortunately he had got the time wrong and we we over half an hour early. It was really nice to enjoy the warm evening and look out across the water while Meg investigated every smell and pretended that she was too sophisticated to play ball. It brought back so many happy memories, Laura's pond dipping party when she was about six, various events with brownies and bird watching with the children on lazy Saturday afternoons. I remember taking our old dog Jimmy for his last walk, knowing that he had to be put to sleep because he was in a lot of pain from cancer in his jaw, that was so very sad. Then when we got Meg, one of her first walks demonstrated her fear of sheep and her passion for chasing bicycles. She was re homed as a failed sheepdog and we understood why when a sheep looked through the fence at her and she hid behind me! She loves to chase wheels but footballs have always been her greatest passion, in her prime she was better at ball skills than Beckham!

Sam rang me to fetch him in 5 minutes, since it is almost half an hour away he must think I have a teleporter in the garage, but I got there as soon as I could. I found a talkative teenager and a very tired dog, she sprawled out and went to sleep on the back seat. Sam told me that she had been the centre of attention and had used her 'poor starving dog look' with such good results that she had eaten more than anyone else at the barbecue!

Want Better Staff: Treat Your Employees Like Dogs

I came across this article today and I thought it was worth posting a link to it. I rather doubt the person who really need to read it will realise it is for him/her, but I live in hope, miracles do happen!

'You might think this notion is appalling, but from where I sit it occurs to me that many employees are often treated worse than their bosses dog, or at least they feel like they are............'

Read the full article here http://bizcovering.com/employment/want-better-staff-treat-your-employees-like-dogs/

You Know You Are Having A Bad Day When ......

Today was one of those one step forward and two steps back sort of days, but the crowing glory of the day came in the early afternoon. Laura had cooked herself some spicy potato wedges for her lunch, but she decided that she was running late for her lecture so she ate a couple and dashed off to university. The first clue that she had given the remaining potato wedges to the dog came when she was violently sick in the lounge. Clues two and three were deposited in the hall and kitchen as I rushed her out to the garden. The worst was yet to come, as I was kneeling on the kitchen floor cleaning up the mess Meg put her head through the cat flap and vomited into the utility room! I give up! She was absolutely fine after that, but it left me feeling rather fragile.

Obsessive Pets

I was half listening to the review of the newspapers on Radio 4 this morning when a story about a cat caught my attention. Apparently a cat in England has become the first feline in UK to be diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder for excessive grooming. It may be the first formal diagnosis but I think obsessive behaviour is fairly common in pets.

Our dog Megan has an obsession about rounding things up, when we had a rabbit she would spend hours running round in circles to make sure that the rabbit didn't escape. We had lawn circles where she wore away the grass. Maybe crop circles have nothing to do with aliens, they are probably caused by demented border collies trying to round up rabbits!

Oreo the cat has an obsession with moths, he has declared the bathroom a no fly zone and he patrols the area to ensure that any moth foolish enough to fly in through the bathroom window is caught and eating in record time. That brings me to his other obsession - food! He will eat absolutely anything, he is like the Robbie of the cat world, he even stole and ate some wine gums the other day!

Dave the cat is a feisty character, but he also has his obsessions. He is very attached to me and whenever I sit down he is there within seconds ready to sit on my lap. He gets on well with Robbie too because Robbie feeds him, but if Robbie sits next to me or attempts to hug me, Dave appears and pushes himself between us to make it quite clear that that he is my best friend and Robbie should go away!

A Dog Called Neville

I am trying to keep my distance from Robbie tonight, he has eaten garlic bread and his breath is terrifying!

A strange thing happened when we went for an evening walk a couple of days ago. We were sitting on a bench looking out across the sea when a woman came past with a very ordinary looking brown dog on a lead. She was talking to the dog and we could tell from the conversation that the dog's name was Neville – I commented to Robbie that it was a strange name for a dog. It makes me wonder if the whole episode was set up by Robbie because the word Neville seemed to set him off, and he began talking about a person called Neville Hill. It took me several minutes to work out that Neville Hill was a place not a person. According to Robbie it is a traction and rolling stock maintenance depot and they just happen to be having an open day very soon. Needless to say Robbie wanted to go and he came up with all sorts of reasons why it would be important for him to be there. I agreed on condition that the word train doesn't pass his lips until we get home. I know he will not be able to keep his promise, but it is fun watching him try!

Is It Raining Men?

Friday went past in a blur of activity, dealing with all those last minute jobs that have to be done before going on holiday. The day began with me chasing Robbie upstairs, he had been promising to go up to the loft to fetch some of my talking books for weeks and he had finally run out of excuses. Once he was safely in the loft I moved his ladder, to make sure he didn't escape until I was satisfied that all the jobs in the loft. There was a lot of thumping and clattering, it sounded as if he would fall through the ceiling at any minute, but just for once my worst fears were not realised. He emerged triumphantly bearing a box full of talking books that for the last few weeks he had insisted were not there, and he insisted that he had to have a shower before he did anything else. Unfortunately I had just run the bath for the dog and since Robbie was already dirty and semi naked (as usual) he was the ideal person to bath he dog! She wasn't overjoyed about the experience, but she behaved very well until I was safely out of range, then she shook herself vigorously and covered Robbie and the bathroom with water. Finally a rather damp and dejected, but clean dog and a clean and adequately dressed husband emerged to face the world and we were ready to go out and tackle the long list of errands that needed our attention.

We had already bought a whole trolley full of 'essentials' for the pets at the pet superstore, and we were heading to the garage to check the tyre pressure before braving the supermarket. Robbie had been getting increasingly annoyed with himself and he was ready to fall out with his own shadow. I knew what the problem was, he was in pain and struggling to walk, but there was nothing I could do to help. He sat in the car and used some of the more obscure and descriptive words in his vocabulary to tell his right leg exactly how he felt about it. Of course the leg took no notice, and Robbie grew increasingly angry with himself. In the end I had to get cross with him and remind him that many people with spina bifida would think he was lucky to be mobile and have fairly normal function. It sounds hard hearted, but I love him, I can't change the way things are, but I can do my best to keep him motivated and help him to keep a sense of perspective. He has to go back to the doctor to get his pain relief sorted out, but as usual I will have to drag him there!

We got everything done in the end, but by the time went to bed we were shattered and we had to make an early start on Saturday morning.

The Vanishing Trick

I wasn't too happy with Robbie on Sunday night. He was telling me all weekend that he was looking forward to getting home, and he promised me lots of attention. He spent the evening listening to train noises on YouTube, then when I told him that I was going to bed he said he would be there in a minute. He even came up to bring me a drink and to tell me that he just had to lock the front door and put the dog out before coming to bed, then he vanished. I waited and waited, but after an hour I gave up and went to sleep. He finally arrived over an hour and a half late and he got a very short answer when he tried to cuddle up to me. I didn't get a chance to discuss his vanishing act with him until this morning, We went through the usual ritual, first he denied it, then he said he was mistaken about the time, then finally he admitted it. He was doing something that he has to do in private, he doesn't like talking to me about it, but apparently it really did take him an hour and a half - he was packing his bag for work!!

Robbie was unwell this morning, he had 'the trots' and being Robbie I was treated to a detailed account of his troubles. He got ready for work as usual, but then he came into the lounge and announced that he felt dreadful and he had a really bad sore throat. I suggested that going to work wasn't the wisest move, even if it wasn't swine flu, he wouldn't be popular if he passed on his troubles to everyone else in the office. In the end he decided to work from home today. To be honest I am a bit worried about Swine Flu, I have been in contact with it, but I hope that Robbie just has a nice ordinary bug. I was OK this morning, but then I developed similar symptoms and I had to come home from work feeling very unwell.

Too Much Information

I haven't had too much to say to Robbie in the last few days because he is still in the dog house, but I happened to mention to him that I saw a train when I was driving back from Stratford the other day, it was near Warwick I think. I told him it was high up on a viaduct type thing. It was a bad move on my part, Robbie bombarded me with questions about the livery. At the time I was trying hard not to get lost and focusing on road signs and roundabouts not trains! That didn't bother Robbie, he didn't give up until he had identified the toc and worked out the time of the train, where it came from and where it was heading. He can remember whole chunks of timetable, if he could apply his mind to something other than trains he could probably take over the world - so maybe it is a good thing that he restricts his attention to railway related matters!

A Quiet Life - I Wish!

I love animals and I couldn't imagine not having pets, but I am starting to think that they are giving me a hard time this week. With Robbie away I intended to enjoy the peace and quiet and make the most of being able to get up a little later, unfortunately when it comes to being noisy early in the morning Robbie has some rivals. At about 5.15am every morning a group of Canada geese fly over on there way from one lake to another and they honk loudly. It is nice that we have two beautiful parks within walking distance and it is nice that they attract wildlife, but why do they need to get up so early! Yesterday it was so loud that I am sure each bird looked into the open window and hooted extra loud as they went past. At least the geese go away, the crow that hangs out in the tree opposite my bedroom window stays there for hours on end making the most dreadful noise, leaving me in bed wide awake thinking of ways to silence a crow!

When I went out to put the bins out early in the morning a bird flew into my face as I walked back towards the house. It really hurt, I hope the bird was OK, I think it was a starling or something of that size, it flew off before I could get a good look at it.

The cats have been causing trouble too, Oreo jumped out of Laura's bedroom window onto the paved area of the garden below. I was terrified, I expected him to be badly injured or dead and I raced downstairs to get to him. I opened the back door and he strolled in looking completely untroubled by his adventure. Not to be outdone by the cats Megan also made her presence felt, she rolled in something unspeakable and she stank. When I mentioned the 'B' word she looked pathetic, I washed the offending area, but I decided to postpone her bath until Sunday - Robbie can do it!

Driven to Distraction.

Thursday went past in a whirl of activity, I still had my usual jobs but I also had to catch up on all the jobs I had put off while I was getting ready for Laura's birthday. One job that simply couldn't be put off any longer was cleaning the hall carpet, but unfortunately I had far too much help. I started by hoovering which prompted Meg the dog to attack the hoover, each time I wanted to push the hoover forward there she was there to chase it back. Picking up an aerosol can had a magical effect, Meg vanished into the lounge to make herself invisible while Oreo streaked past me in the other direction. I sprayed the carpet with the carpet cleaner, and got down on my knees to work it into the carpet but as soon as I put the can down Oreo reappeared to attack the foam that was blocking his way to the kitchen and his food bowl. Meg didn't want to be outdone by a cat and decided that in the absence of her favourite fox poo, this foam would be good to roll in, so I had to work the foam in with one hand while waving the aerosol can in the other to scare away the animals! Fortunately the end result was good, I had to leave it to dry and then hoover it again and it looked much better, so perhaps the exorbitant price for the product was justified after all.

Everyone Has Limits!

Robbie had a very bad day on Sunday. We had to get up early to go and get the dog from the kennels and I decided to take the other car, but I asked Robbie to bring both car keys with us. It was a reasonably long drive because the kennels is near Milton Keynes and Robbie talked non stop about trains, including a very odd statement about a Pendolino 'sitting down'. It was lovely to get Meg back, but the journey home was hot and uncomfortable. We arrived home to find ourselves locked out because Laura was out and the other key that I had asked Robbie to bring was locked inside the house! I had to drive all the way to my mum's to get the spare key. In the afternoon he kept me waiting outside Tesco for an hour and a half, he should have only bought a few essential food items, but he 'accidentaly' went shopping for clothes! I was not amused, in fact I was furious. He did say he was sorry, but he didn't seem very sorry and when he moved my cleaning stuff that evening and then mocked me for getting cross, he ended up wearing a cup of tea! I did regret it, it was a waste of good tea, but everyone has limits – even me!

Cornwall at Last

Friday passed in a blur of activity because we had so much to do to be ready to go on holiday in the morning. As well as washing, packing, getting the car ready and shopping for food, we also had to take Meg to the kennels. She wasn't too impressed when I took her out to the car, but when we got to the kennels she seemed happy to be there, she was very interested in the other dogs and she didn't give us a second glance. By 9pm the car was packed and most jobs on my list had been ticked, so I headed off to bed leaving Robbie to finish the last few jobs. We were planning to get up at 2am so I needed some sleep. I was woken at 1 am by Robbie coming to bed and when the alarm clock went off at 2am there was no way, that Robbie was going to get up. I had to get very cross with him and even then it took half an hour to get him out of bed. Once I got downstairs I found that he hadn't done anything after I went to bed, he had fallen asleep on the sofa. I was busy chasing everyone around to be ready to leave and Robbie was busy - cooking sausages! Totally normal, everyone cooks sausages at 2.30am! In the end I had to give him a deadline and threaten to leave without him.

It wasn't the best journey, everyone was asleep except me of course, I had my talking books to keep me company. Most of the journey along the M5 was through thick fog, there were lots of speed restrictions and it slowed us down considerably, but at last we arrived in Padstow in time to choose the best parking space and be happily settled in the Quayside Café eating breakfast before it got busy. It was nice to potter around Padstow looking at the shops, but we were very sad to find that the lovely old book shop has closed down, we will really miss it.

After lunch we drove to Mother Ivey's Bay and settled ourselves in the caravan. Finally we were unpacked and ready to enjoy the holiday. I love Cornwall and this little corner of Cornwall is best of all

The Invisible Dog

Meg the dog is not fond of men (except for Robbie who doesnt seem to count as a man in Meg's world). Her least favourite man is the vet, she perfers the female vet, but given the choice she would prefer not to see any of them at all! She knows where she is going before we even leave the house, it is the only time she is not keen to have her lead on and from that point on she tries her best to be invisible. By the time she gets to the surgery her tail is clamped under her chin and she seems to physically shrink. She is very good in the surgery, but when they put the kennel cough vaccination up her nose she makes absolutely sure that the vet ends up wearing it!

This time the vet had to check a lump for her and he took cells from the lump. She was deeply unimpressed at having her undercarriage and her tail remained firmly under her chin until she got home, then she cheered herself up by giving the cats a hard time! She is happy again now, she is sitting in her favourite spot and demolishing a bone.

Trying Their Luck!

Robbie left for work before I got up this morning, he had an early start because he was going to the 'deep north' for a meeting. When I got up and went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea there were three faces looking up at me, two cats and a dog. When I took no notice of them Oreo the greediest animal on the planet began to meow loudly and Dave the brains of the pair went and sat next to the cat food container. Meg made sure that I noticed her by making me step over her each time I moved and she had a hopeful hungry look on her face. Clearly they were trying to tell me that Robbie had not fed them. I thought it was odd because he hadn't mentioned it, so I rang him to check, they had been fed, the little devils were just trying their luck! If they can act like that maybe they should think about television work!

Robbie, announced this morning that he is going out to play again tomorrow! I'm sure he promised that he would be at home this weekend. Oh well if he prefers to spend his time chasing after trains, I will have to find something to keep me occupied.