Back to real life

Yet another stroke of luck. This week is Melrose' week. All the border towns do it, a bit like Wakes week in our part of the world. And although we missed the horses on the 'Ride Out' last night, we were privileged to see (and hear) the procession, led by the pipes and drums (in fancy dress). Well, it was actually led by two policemen on bicycles!

Yesterday morning saw them roaring to go (all things are relative). We got off to an early start, managed to miss the Queens Baton (just) and made good progress through the Borders and down the M6 with only 2 short breaks. Returned the hire car to Buxton for them to drive us home ( fantastic service Enterprise - cant fault you on either leg).

Well........there were balloons (60th and congratulations) bunting, banners and cake. Yes, mum's birthday cake (which never did show up) has been reincarnated as congrats. cake, and very nice it was too. Sally had really gone to town and our luck held with the weather for us all to enjoy a wonderful BBQ. Milly and I played lots, and she seems to have realized that barking at me doesn't work and has stopped it. In turn, I have accepted that she doesn't want to play ball and have stopped throwing it at her.

Mum got up at the normal time to take me for my walk and told dad to stay in bed and have a lie in. When we got back there he was - fully dressed and upright. Turned out that the shearers had rung to say they were coming to shear the sheep this morning, so off we had to go to round them up. Naturally, they were as far away as they could be! Anyway, job done.

One thing about it, when you only have 2 sets of clothes (a wear and a spare) there isn't a lot of washing to do when you get back from a 3 month holiday. There is, however, a mountain of post, and a heap of parcels that have arrived from Lands End to John O Groats, as they gradually reduced the load on the way up.

Uh oh - mum wants a word!

"I just want you all to know about this little soldier of ours. Shortly before we left on the walk, Madge was diagnosed with epilepsy. We had discussions with the vet (and got a second opinion) and they both agreed, that so long as she wasn't having them frequently, and was given plenty of time to recover post-fit, she would be alright. They also agreed that the fits were probably worse for us to witness, than for Madge, to whom it would probably seem like a bad dream. She had 2 fits whilst we were away, each time in the early hours, giving her loads of time and, as luck would have it the following days walk was shorter than the norm. She hasn't put a paw wrong throughout the entire walk and we are both very proud of her achievement. She is a true star."

Good lord, we only went for a walk!

M
x

THE END