Fitting in Nicely

Rolo, my new dog, is settling in a treat - in fact he's curled up at my feet whilst I write this, and he's clearly read the Faithful Mutt's Manual! Now, if we could just arrange for a spell of bright, crisp weather, suitable for long brisk walks...

Wrong Move

OOPS! Looks as if I read the tea-leaves wrongly before I wrote my earlier post this morning. Mind you, I still think that our cricketers should not tour Zimbabwe...

Don't Go

As I write, the issue of whether or not the England cricket team should go to tour Zimbabwe is very much in the air. To me there can only be one answer: don't go.

I really don't like mixing sport and politics, but sometimes I think you have to make a stand on moral grounds, and if you can't do this with respect to a regime which appears to use starvation as a governmental political tool, then when can you?

Moving On

I've just had a peculiar weekend. Although Kane's gone, I've kept reaching out to stroke him, opening doors for him, thinking about walking him and all the odd minutiae of living with a dog. It's very odd...

Luckily, I should soon return my normal routine. A little while ago, and purely by coincidence it was at about the time that Kane started to go downhill, I was asked to rehome another dog. My "new boy" is Rolo - a golden retriever/labrador cross. He's 18 months old, big and boisterous, and very different to Kane! If I gain half as much pleasure from him as I did from the old boy - and I've not the slightest doubt that I will - then there are some fun times ahead!

Farewell

It grieves me to have to say that Kane has now gone. Over this last week he hasn't responded to treatment and we just had to let him go to sleep.

At just shy of fifteen years old, he did pretty well. My ex-wife and me adopted him a little less than six years ago, since when he's rarely been very far from one or other of us.

Rest easily my beloved old boy.

Heartache

Kane, my much loved border collie is coming to the end of his life. His heart is failing and, though there's still quality of life for him, it doesn't look like he'll be with me much longer. I don't have words to express how sad I am :-(

Scots Wa-hey !

I'm absolutely delighted to read that Scotland has decided to ban smoking in enclosed public spaces. True, I don't exactly spend much time north of the border, though I've happy memories of a week in Edinburgh some years ago, but I hope that this will lead the way and we'll be following their example down here as soon as possible...

Return of an old friend

Late last night, I took my old mutt round the block for a walk before turning in. It was quite chilly outside and the clear night sky was absolutely ablaze with stars. As I looked over to the east, I noticed that the constellation Orion was clearly visible.

This was the first constellation I learnt to recognise and I've not seen it since early spring. I shall look forward to more clear nights and some amateur stargazing...

So You Can Fool Most of the People Most of the Time

As G Dubya has been reelected President of the United States, I'm very interested in a BBC news story which suggests that one of the election's deciding issues was religion.

Out of curiosity, could anybody tell me in exactly which part of the bible one is encouraged to go around invading other countries on false pretences?