Why kids and dogs are a good mix...

I was in slow moving traffic around Clapham Common this morning when eventually we stopped altogether, I opened the window and my eyes slid over to the park where there were some resilient – fog, what fog? – joggers and a woman pushing a young child in a pushchair. Their chocolate Labrador was walking beside them. The Lab suddenly spotted a branch that had fallen from a nearby tree and pounced on it shaking it, jumping up and down and running in circles with this massive branch – complete with leaves – in its mouth. This reduced the child to hysterics who was literally rocking in the pushchair, squealing and laughing at the antics of his mad pooch. The dog seemed to take a lot of pleasure in this favourable reaction and shook the branch even harder. The mum strolled on laughing and smiling and I thought what a wonderful way to start the day? Pluto does this; he does crocodile rolls and then squirms on his back, or he picks up a stick and runs in circles and it never fails to raise a smile – no matter how tired, how rushed or even how fed-up I might be. And if fact, complete strangers will often stop and smile as well. Dogs’ rock. Children – although I don’t have any – seem to rock too. Well done them.

I need Microsoft office for my laptop and we need to hook it up (although wirelessly) to t’internet. So I’m not really getting to use it very much, although I have changed my screensaver twice and my wallpaper three times. It’s still shiny and fantastic though.

Victor the Vectra is well. The patient made a full recovery. Apparently all he needed was a new relay and I picked her up yesterday morning. (Victor is gender gifted; sometimes a he, sometimes a she.)

After I picked up Vic I drove down Biggin Hill way to go a meet the general manager and chairperson of an animal sanctuary that I am hoping to become a volunteer / trustee with. They were really nice and they have all sorts of animals on the farm, which is fantastic. They seemed to think my skills would be most useful and I’m spending the day their next week. I’m hoping to take Mr. Pluto with me as well, who has never been let loose on a farm to our knowledge…!

As I drove back I stopped off at a nice pub we’ve been to several times before in the village of Downe. I ordered lunch and sat by the open fire and read my book. It was bliss!

There was an 88-year-old in their with his wife and friend and he was talking about his time in the army. He was in the Royal Artillery and had served in the last part of the war (not sure where) before he was posted to Germany after their surrender. I thought he sounded really interesting – unless of course, it’s a bit like Uncle Albert in Only Fools and Horses, the same stories over and over! – but more interestingly it became apparent his wife had also been in the army and I was suddenly much more curious about her story. She must have served after the war (because she seemed a little younger), when there was still a seperate woman’s army. Unfortunately she didn’t say as much and I realised I was eavesdropping which is never an attractive habit. So I returned with relish to my steak and ale pie. There must be thousands of women who served in the women’s army, but you never hear anything about them…

After lunch, I went and bought some new crockery that had caught my eye a week or so ago when I was shopping with my mum. They had chickens painted all over them and I thought they were quite fun. I regretted not buying them when I saw them the first time. So I went and got plates, side plates and bowls and some big serving dishes in preparation for Christmas! Eventually I got home, walked the dog again and settled down to some work with odd sojourn into Facebook. A good day by all accounts…

The patient is with the doctor...

There’s a small electrical fault with the car. Intermittently the fan (that cools the engine) won’t switch off and runs the battery down. So I’ve taken her to a new garage. I wasn’t that impressed with the last one; Queens in Penge. For two reasons really, one was they never returned calls which infuriated me no end, the other being that there are two screws on the rocker gasket to keep the top in place, when the car was returned they hadn’t bother to replace them. Now it’s a small thing, a very small thing. But I think if they didn’t bother to do something that simple…

(When I told them about it, they lied and said, the car arrived like that. I know with 100% certainty that it arrived with the two screws intact.)

Anyway, the customer is always right apparently and so I’ve taken my business elsewhere. I’m always so anxious when the car goes in so I shall spend the day on or certainly near my tenterhooks, whatever the hell tenterhooks might be.

I never really followed up on our chimney sweep visit. As I think I mentioned before, I love real fires and am just generally not that keen on central heating – it dries everything out. We have a fireplace in the front room, our room and the spare room and took the decision to have the first two swept and tested to see if we could use them. We knew that if we couldn’t use them it would be £120 effectively up in smoke – if you pardon the pun – but I wanted to check anyway. And unfortunately it turned out that we can’t use either. Basically, the flue in the front room is smashed at some point so smoke leaks, and both chimney pots have been replaced by ‘vented cowls’. Although the bedroom fireplace is in perfect working order, without a proper pot, it’s too dangerous to use. Basically the cowls prevent a proper draw which means smoke can back up which is dangerous. At least we know now I suppose, but I do wish there had been a cheaper way to find out! We called out Mike Doyle a member of the Master Guild of Chimney sweeps – they cover all of London and we found him and his dad friendly and efficient and they kept everything really clean. They laid sheets everywhere and we didn’t find any soot or dirt as a result of their visit. (They were also very good about Pluto wanting to help them!)

Tomorrow is an exciting day for me. There is a place called Foal Farm in Kent; an animal sanctuary and they had a small piece in the local paper – I can’t even remember what about now. Anyway in my quest to (a) volunteer again (b) get animal – specifically large animal – experience, I dropped them an email to see if they wanted trustees or volunteers. A couple of weeks later I got a phone call and an email saying sorry for the delay, but they were very interested in my interesting skills! Tomorrow I’m going along to have a chat with the chairperson and general manager. I’m really looking forward to it. I shall let you know what happens!