Should I raise my bat? Remove my helmet? Acknowledge the crowd? I feel there should be some recognition for reaching my hundredth blog. Maybe a quiet celebration with a small glass of some very special thirty five year old Taylor’s port that I have just decanted would be in order; except that I have given up alcohol! Having been diagnosed with an ectopic heartbeat (where it loses its rhythm, quite disconcerting) I’ve been advised to give up coffee (caffeine), alcohol and chocolate and cut back on dairy, especially cheese. She might as well have said sex as well and completely buried all life’s pleasures!
Whilst walking Callie (the whippet) along the promenade yesterday, we had one of those moments that could give you nightmares for life. The darling creature (female; spayed) has recently taken to humping any passing stranger that takes her fancy. Goodness knows why this embarrassing, but entirely natural, habit has suddenly overtaken her, but its consequences were nearly disastrous. Having chased and then mounted a mutt of similar stature and been forcibly removed by her cringing owners, she spotted another three rugrats who, most untypically, she took a fancy to. In trying to avoid her unwanted attention, one of these poor little mites ran helter skelter alongside the metal post and rail fencing that marks the boundary between the edge of the promenade and the pebble beach a good ten feet below. Then, as a last ditch evasion manouevre, she swerved sideways and was left teetering on the brink of a potentially fatal fall. How she avoided gravity’s downward pull I’m not sure, but thankfully she managed to scuttle off, with her owner oblivious to the life-threatening disaster that had so narrowly been avoided. A pleasant stroll in a thirty mile an hour wind could so easily have become a nightmare of hideous proportions.
It reminded me of an occasion many years ago when my very speedy and athletic yellow lab, Mogli, having just caught and killed a rabbit in the field, veered off on the way home into a neighbour’s garden to find their pet bunny loose on the lawn. Mogli wasn’t trained to differentiate between animals in the wild and pets that looked very like them and sadly, despite my sprinting to the rescue, poor Peter was already on his way to meet St Peter, if that’s where the cuddly creatures end up. Mrs Snow was incredibly kind about the demise of her daughter’s cute little plaything and suggested they’d been trying to get rid of it anyway. I felt a case of wine was the least I could do.
With Lent on our doorstep, it’s a good time to be giving up things so I guess that’s some consolation. I came across a cracking recipe for healthy pancakes today; 3 eggs, 3 bananas, half a cup of almond butter, (that’s quite a lot!), I tsp of cinnamon and toppings of choice….maple syrup in my case. Might try that tomorrow to kick Lent off in the right manner, as I retake my guard and go in search of a double hundred.
ADayInTheStrifeOf 