Lady Mary

I've hardly had a minute to wipe my arse let alone write a blog entry.....
I had forgotten just how maintenance some puppies can be.

Well Mary is a confident little bundle. She is not shy. She is not nervy and she will need careful handling as she has the potential for becoming rather too big for her boots.
Her grandfather was supreme champion at Cruffs in 1998
So I suspect like Lady Mary from Downton
" It's all in the breeding"
William and George have accepted her immediately. They are taking a somewhat quiet approach to the interloper and she in turn has rather brightly " not pushed things too far"
She head rubbed Albert and has not chased him as yet, but I see he is ready with one paw raised everytime she appears. There will be tears before bedtime , I suspect but that is the way of things.
Winnie , sulked most of last night. Strangely she seems more afraid of the puppy than anything else, and only brightened up after I gave her a rather robust fanny rub with her second best flannel.
She's keeping her distance as you can tell from the video.........
Bulldogs hate change.

 

Right I have a casserole to make, 2 hourly toilet training to start and Old Trevor next door wants me to shake his apple trees

Downton ? What Happened

Downton Abbey! 

Is it me but what happened tonight?

Bates and Anna cleans some shoes

Lord Grantham puked up blood over the linen  

And

The sweet natured Baxter did fuck all in court.

Heyho

Meanwhile 

New girl Mary slept next to a neurotic bulldog in front of the fire

Mary " Woodlands Blue Moon"

Mary has arrived!
George has been friendly.
William is his usual good natured and accepting self.
Albert tutted and walked off to kill something
And
Winifred is sulking by the back door
Let the chaos begin

New Car

The Prof looked stern but wasn't 

 " It's a runaround but I want it kept clean" he said

( sighing) I replied with a tired " Alright"...I had just worked night shift.

"  No scotch egg wrappers, no secret KFC boxes under the sear.... No empty diet coke tins in the boot"

" yessssssssssss"

He continued

" No shitty dog bums on the back seats, no bulldog snot on the windows and absolutely  no FANNY FLANNELS  in the glove compartment"

" Ok" ( I thought he had finished)

" I want it serviced regularly, cleaned weekly and I don't expect to see any turkey on the passenger seat"

" Right!" 

" oh and I don't want to see scrape marks on the side of it, like the Berlingo" 

" You scraped the side of the Berlingo" I reminded him quietly

Silence......

Three People

I hurried up to the garage shop to buy bread.
There was no one about, except the ubiquitous Mrs Trellis and her greyhound cross Blue.
They were heading for The Marian.
As I stopped to say hello, she waved her hand for me to listen and half spoke/ half whispered a poem.
It was her own poem about Blue, and the things he " saw" and experienced on his morning walk.
It wasn't long and when she had finished, off they went together quite happily.  Mrs Trellis in her neat hat and Blue trotting quietly next to her in his matching coat.

I was taking in this little vignette of Trelawnyd when I spied "Kitty" walking purposefully down High Street . ( Kitty is the maker of the now infamous slippers of sex) . Now you don't see Kitty very often as ill health ( rheumatism and bad gums) usually keeps her indoors, but today Kitty was a woman on a mission.
" Hello John Bach " she called out .
I asked her where she was off to
" The council workmen finish working on the pensioner bungalows today" she sang out " and the buggers have two of my best buckets!"

Bernard " The German" was outside the cottage when I got home. He wanted eggs.
" vere is your car?" He asked pointing to the oil stain on the empty drive
He always sounds like Captain Geering  from " Allo Allo"
" It died" I told him and Bernard shook his head seriously
He looked depressed
" We have a  Volkswagen....I vont my money back"

I'm living in a parallel universe

Credit

I worked a shift at Samaritans tonight.
We answer emails as well as phone calls...
I was lucky enough to read a measured, supportive and ever so clever email reply from a SAMS branch from Southern England to an actively suicidal correspondent. The distressed writer returned an email, and it was obvious that the whole  view of his life had been turned around by a few well chosen, heartfelt and powerfully appropriate words from a nameless, talented and unpaid volunteer.
How effin amazing is that? 

6 Year Old Sass

Eve and Liv

Yesterday afternoon the girls and I collected apples from the surviving orchard trees from behind the cottage. The intact apples we washed and bagged up for home, the bruised windfalls we carried to the field and in a fit of glee smashed on the floor so that the geese could feed on them.
The Prof spied us from our bedroom and opened the window. He called out in mock annoyance
" Have you girls got my dinner ready?"
I repeated his request to Eve and Liv who were busy wiping apple mush from their school shoes and six year old Liv rolled her eyes rather theatrically
" Husbands ! " she sighed with all of the seriousness of Judi Dench " always moaning about something!" 

Hoochi Bar

In the centre of the village there is a council property which has always looked, well, rather shabby. Recently it's owner moved out and amid a flurry of council workmen , the inside has been upgraded and improved upon. Unfortunately the garden, which resembled Coventry AFTER the bombing! Had not been improved upon.
I got a glimpse of the potential new tenants a couple of weeks ago when out delivering apples.
They were being shown around by a council rep.....and looked .....well.........a bit........rough.
Today I walked past with the dogs. The property had black plastic bags sellotaped up over every window. I presumed the new people where wanting privacy when they were decorating.
Mrs Trellis walked up.
" what do you think of the bin bags" she whispered nodding at the covered windows " it all looks a bit sinister if you ask me"
" It's a drug den" I told her seriously and as she pursed her lips with worry I added playfully " it's probably a brothel too"
" I don't care if it's a top class hoochi bar" Mrs Trellis snorted loudly " as long as they tidy up the garden...it's a disgrace !"
Village life

We bought a car today too...a sweet smelling red hatchback....... Then it was back home for the school pick up

Today's after school activity

Disemboweling  the pumpkin