Hoorah! My trampoline is back.

You may remember that in the early part of this year when I was but a babe, I discovered that the winter cover for the swimming pool made a great trampoline and gave me hours of fun. All that stopped in May when the pool was opened up, but I did at least gain a 42,000 litre drinking bowl in its place.




As winter now approaches the pool has today been put to bed and my lovely blue trampoline is back. As usual I gave my dad a hand in the closing down and in pulling over the winter cover.






Well, you have to to your bit, don't you. I am sure it was greatly appreciated, unlike my first attempts at nibbling the edge of the cover once it was in place. That did NOT go down too well.

Brian de Pays de Galles visit

Mum and dad's friend Brian from Wales came to visit for a few days this week. Now I had not met him before but we got on famously despite me drawing blood on him within five minutes of his arrival - an accident of course, caused by my youthful enthusiasm! He is a real dog person and understands us canines so he has been promoted to my new best friend.


I have recently acquired a taste for the coasters used under cups and glasses in this household and to date have totally destroyed the twelve attractive ones we owned. Thankfully Brian is on the committee for his local rugby club so was able to bring with him 500 beer mats to replace the other coasters. Whilst not as tasty as the cork ones, I have managed to snaffle some of these and currently we have 496 left!


I have attached a photo of me taken by Brian in what I think is a rather distinguished pose on top of a pile of rocks. Signed copies are available on request.

Orange for danger!

Now you may or may not be aware that the wild boar hunting season, which reopened in September, is now in full swing. Each Wednesday and weekend groups of shotgun and rifle toting locals, each with a load of dogs, can be found lurking amongst the vines, in the hedgerows, and down in the forests. What you also may not be aware of is that the majority of these heavily armed hunters are generally in their 50’s or 60’s so with not the best of sight and hearing (especially after all those gunshots), and have usually spent the previous hour in the local bar breakfasting on red wine.


I hasten to add that we do NOT take part in any hunting, but with these facts in mind, dad and I have decided that discretion is the better part of valour and that we should take great care to ensure that we are both very visible and easily heard during our morning walks on those days. Lots of fluorescent orange and jingling bells are therefore the order of the day so, after a trip to the local rural supplies shop, we have equipped ourselves accordingly, as you can see from the photo. I’m sure that I would never be mistaken for one of those ugly boars but I am not going to take the chance.

The only good thing to come out of this is that I have made friends with one of the hunt dogs – a lovely lady called Aude - who comes from the same place as me and my (doggy) mum and who probably knows her as they are of similar ages. When we meet we usually have a bit of a chase around, much to the dismay of Aude’s owner!