Haven’t You Forgotten Something?

L does the Crossdale 10k, which is what we usually do on this weekend of the year, whilst I opt to continue MD’s education in the dog agility world.

I pick a good Crossdale to miss. Bizarrely there are no t-shirts this year. They have run this race for 10 years with a t-shirt and last year they had a special 10th anniversary one. Then in year 11 they drop the t-shirt. That’s not going to be popular.

L does a good time on the tricky cross-country course with that notorious hill to finish but she isn’t pleased. She sounds so like me. I’m very proud of her displeasure; it must be her competitive side coming out.

At the dog show, MD frustratingly has one pole down in each of his three runs. On the last of those, he celebrates the 100th competitive run of his short career by flattening the jump three from home on what would have been decent clear round. So close. That said all his events today were pitched at grades 3-5, whereas last week they were for grades 1-3 and were consequently that bit harder for the 'Pocket Rocket'. He’s done well really.

So 100 runs, of which only 12 have been clear rounds and a fair few have been eliminations but we’re getting there, as last week showed.

Meanwhile on the 545th run of his career, as you can see I keep count, Doggo and I are having disagreements about his contact points again. He nonchalantly skips one of them but carries on regardless, hurdles the long jump and is heading for the finish line when I call him back. Err, excuse me, haven’t you forgotten something? To his embarrassment I make him do the last three obstacles again, correctly.

We have a similar disagreement on his next course but this time when I shout loudly at him, he stops, in the correct place, and the old man achieves the first of his two clears today but unfortunately there are no rosettes to be picked up today.

Once home, L and I celebrate our respective successes and failures by heading off out to find the Dunkirk Inn. Once we find it and discover that we can get its Nottingham beers at our local, we adjourn for a pleasant evening at the Johnson’s instead.

(Sunday 26th September)

Fond Memories

Daughter’s party seems to have gone quite well; at least I’m not crunching through the kitchen on broken glass. In fact downstairs seems to be just as I left it.

It’s kind of odd for L to be out of the house early this morning and to leave me lounging in bed. Well it wasn’t actually that early, not compared with my sort of dog show/bike sportive/duathlon type early.

She heads off to Pilates and then gym. She offers me the chance to join her but somehow I don’t think Pilates is quite me. However I could go for a swim I suppose, if the pool is open that is. A swim looked infinitely more inviting yesterday compared with the mini gym session I ended up doing. Of course this had nothing whatsoever to do with the new blonde lifeguard they have. Almost worth drowning for, slowly. Probably the first slim female attendant I’ve seen there. Why is that? Why is that most leisure centre staff, and particularly the female ones, look like they’ve never set foot in a leisure centre?

Instead I take our old tent in for repair, damaged after a dog managed to dig an escape route from it on our last trip. I also test out the new one by putting it up in the garden. We’ve gone for the same tried and trusted design, yet they’ve tampered with it again and attached both inner and outer sheets together. This is pointless and annoying. Can’t see me getting on with this model.

I decide it’s too hot to walk the dogs. I try a bit of training with MD but it’s too hot for that as well and we soon both drop from heat exhaustion.

Later we head off to Newark on the train for a friend’s 10th Wedding Anniversary. I thought I ought to put in an appearance. A 10th anniversary is 'Tin' I believe, but I'm not into cans so I take a couple of bottles instead. It’s not a bad do actually and they have photos of the wedding with L and I on. It was L’s long hair era, nagged for by me, which I have fond memories for. I too have an impressive amount of hair, I have fond memories of that as well.

We're back in Nottingham early due to the last train annoyingly being at 9.10. Time for a quickie in the Ropewalk, beer that is.