daily bread

on saturday himself was well enough to go to the footie. so herself decided to take young dave and me to the beach. she was hoping that the seagull had wended its way to the blue yonder.

all went well with this plan. the sun was shining. people were pottering around doing their shopping and errands. herself decided to pop into the bakers and buy a cappuccino to drink on the beach while we ran around. there were quite a few people in the bakers, buying rolls and croissants. due to the unreasonable prejudice against lurchers herself has a technique which allows her to be inside the bakers while young dave and i are on the outside, at the end of our leads. while this meets the requirements of environmental health, it does not allow much control on the part of the handler. young dave's lurcherhood skills are coming along very nicely and he was able to put part 2 of the theiving course into effect - with a deft forward half twist he relieved a rather surprised looking lady of one of the bread rolls that she had purchased. i was pleased to see that young dave had been paying attention to the packaging module, as these particular rolls were in a paper bag.

there was a bit of a kerfuffle while herself apologised and offered to buy the lady a fresh roll. personally i would have been quite happy if it had been dusted off on her jeans but people can be fussy. herself asked the lady in the shop for a new roll and for her coffee. the bakery lady is very nice and refused to take payment for the replacement roll.

"of course not, it was an accident," she said, "nobody's died, have they?" herself is of the same attitude to life, especially after recent events, but a surprising number of people are not. herself is often reduced to tears by petty unpleasantness from complete strangers. she felt compelled to tell the bakery lady about how himself had just taken delivery of superkidny and how she was touched by her kindness.

our walk on sunday was rather less successful. it was a little rainy and the peeps decided a walk in the woods was a good idea. the original wood was decided against as the rain got heavier and a wood nearer home was settled on. herself brought some bags to collect wood, for the 'knit your own firewood' project. himself is determined to get exercise as instructed by the hospital but he was totally worn out by the previous day's football. not that he was playing, you understand, but watching is tiring too when you have just had surgery.

we wandered round the wood, herself collecting wood like an old troll-woman. the rain eventually became too much so we beetled back to the car. usually young dave and i would be on the lead long before the car park but no-one was around and the wood and the rain were taking all of herself's attention. himself was looking decidedly ropey. as soon as the boot was open i leaped into the car but young dave was distracted by something that looked like a balloon. herself shrieked, which gave young dave the idea that this was something to be prized. before herself could catch him he had swallowed it. herself managed to bundle young dave into the car and we headed for home.

in the evening the snake-charmer and her folks came for a meal. herself has finally got the entertaining thing sussed. not only did they bring wine, but they brought the meal too! all we had to provide was a table and some plates and things. it transpired that this arrangement is temporary, until himself is less tired. although herself can cook, it is simply not possible for himself to sit and watch. so in order to keep him seated the food must be prepared out of sight. talk turned to lurcherly topics and young dave's balloon-eating was the cause of much mirth. except that it seems this was no ordinary balloon but a special balloon called a cardamom. i think they are sometimes used in curry, although having seen one you would need to grind them up first.

anyway, it appeared that the snake charmer did not know about cardamoms, in spite of having such gourmets for parents. so herself had to explain what one was. i have to say i got a bit lost in the technical stuff...