Dull Thursday


A summer's day in Wales.
Grey and cold and wet. We stopped at the Church gate to listen to the funeral hymn being sung.
There is nothing more melancholy than a Welsh funeral on a wet day.
I didn't know the chap who was being buried. He lived out of the village and cared for a wife with severe dementia. She, I was reliably informed afterwards, had the presence of  mind to ring for an ambulance after he had collapsed. Unfortunately she wasn't well enough to attend the service.
We then went to the Affable despot's house to feed their fish and  family gecko as they are away. I tied the dogs to the gate, fed the fish in their kitchen tank and then went to water the gecko ( who seems to be the most useless animal on earth as it neither seems to move or react ) as I was giving him a quick squirt with the moisturiser gun I heard a sudden bang from the bedroom above, then another and another and thinking I had suddenly disturbed an intruder I went to the bottom of the stairs and called out a fairly ineffectual and girly " hello? " up into the darkness .
A moment later Winnie suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs, she was smiling broadly. Obviously she had slipped her lead and had been enjoying herself greatly exploring a new home.

It took me an age to sponge down the fat paw prints from the carpet.

36 comments:

  1. Always an adventure when Winnie is along!

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  2. I love that dog.

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  3. The first thing I thought of was thank goodness she made noise and you knew she was up there, instead of searching for her outside when you saw she was not there .. I am glad she was smiling broadly, having an adventure .. I miss dog smiles .. the cats don't.

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    1. The garden was tiny and the front door pushed open so even the dumbest of sleuths could have guessed it

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  4. She's a woman - she's naturally nosey.

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  5. I was about to eat my oatmeal (porridge) and your column had me laughing my head off. Winnie stories are the best.

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  6. In a pub, I frequently stand up and say "I'm off to water the gecko".

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    1. That made me laugh out loud YP.

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    2. Like i said geckos are useless

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    3. wahahahahahahahaha !

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    4. @yp - bwhahahahahahaha! I have also heard "off to drain the lizard". I don't have a lizard, BTW.

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    5. The geckos here, being lively sorts, would likely nip you somewhere uncomfortable...

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  7. With your fright, I thought for certain you'd be cleaning up something else.

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  8. Oh, Winnie. Haha!!

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  9. I love the photo - peaceful and melancholy.

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  10. You can guarantee your dog will let you down when you're in someone elses house ha, ha!

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  11. Did she look appropriately chastened after your scolding?
    (Silly question!)

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  12. haha....teddy too love to check out every inch of a new place.

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  13. Winnie! Bless her!

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  14. Oh Winnie - you bad girl, you nearly gave Dad a heart attack !

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  15. Lucky she didn't do one of her proverbial dumps.

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  16. So Thursday wasn't so dull, after all.

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  17. I have to say moving on from your naughty dog story the picture of you in your woolly hat makes you look like a picture from a trailer for one of those Swedish cop series like Wallander. If Kenn Branagh dies you could audition. Sorry to go off course. Lovely story. So glad we arent the only ones with badly behaved animals.

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  18. Oh my! Another great story from a great storyteller :)

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  19. A Gecko would not have slipped the leash and bounded upstairs - as you say - useless lizards -

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  20. My little geckos are very fast, too fast for cats fast.

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  21. They keep you on your toes, never a dull moment with your lot.

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  22. That dog will get you in a real scrape one of these days.
    Incidentally, was that you in the video introducing AungGladys at the Flower Show? If so then I must say you scrub up rather well.

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  23. 27. Never a dull day, eh?

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  24. The picture does look dreary. Cold? How cold does it get there in Wales in the summertime? I would send you some of our heat if I could.

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  25. I've decided my life requires bulldogs; precisely three. They'll be named Bumble, Fitz and Sophie.

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  26. Dull Thursday? I doubted when I read the title and was proved right (always nice).
    Sad, poignant and funny. Not dull. Except in sky colour perhaps...

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  27. The gecko neither seems to move or react. He just enjoys being squirted with a moisturising gun. Sounds like the ideal lifestyle.

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  28. At least you don't have to walk a gecko in the rain on a cold, wet Welsh Summers day :-)

    I have a gecko on my arm .......

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