Old friends...

In my humble opinion, there is nothing better than spending a few hours with old friends.  By 'old' I don't mean as in years, as they are all roughly the same age as me, and I definitely am not old.  No, these are friends who have been in my life for around twelve years, and who are the proud owners of sons the same age as son number two.  We have been through so much together with our boys, and although the problems have moved on from getting son number two into the school shower without keeping his pants on, through to the question, 'How much alcohol is too much?' it would appear that there is a common vibe still running through with regard to our sons' lives now.

I was in the cafe for over three hours, during which I managed to polish off a lasagne and chips (my favourite food combo, inherited from the Mother) and a large slab of cake (another favourite, but all my own doing).  I also managed to almost bore eight ladies to death with stories from Binland.  I do sometimes wonder whether it's just me who finds rubbish so interesting.  I could talk rubbish all day long (something the husband can confirm even when I'm not talking about work) and I really hope that my friends didn't go home and moan to their families about how I had bored the socks off them.

The other news for yesterday was that the dogs went to stay with Miss R for the day.  If you remember, last time she had them (when I was stuck in a 1945 timewarp somewhere in a field in Sussex) they were walked to within an inch of their lives, and Percy didn't move from his bed for two days when he got back, such was the effect on his little legs.  When they came home last night, I was tempted to measure Percy against the door again, as he looked a couple of inches shorter, his little legs worn down to four fuzzy stumps.

Speaking of walking, it's that time of year again when we walk for Schnauzerfest.  This is a fabulous charity which raises money for rescued puppy farm dogs, using it to mend their broken bodies and minds, and then rehoming them somewhere where they can get the love and the life they deserve.  If you fancy contributing to this great charity, take a look at what they do here:

www.facebook.com/SchnauzerfestUK

So picture the scene if you can....  Percy and Reg lost in the middle of at least a hundred dogs of similar ilk on the beach at West Wittering.  Percy has spotted his favourite dog in the world, Hugo (Percy gets confused on occasions) and is in hot pursuit across the sand dunes.  Reg on the other hand is following anyone who happens to have their hands in their pockets in case the aforementioned hands emerge with some liver cake.  We usually lose the two dogs several times through the walk, but last year the husband came up with a cracking idea.

'You watch Percy and I'll keep an eye on Reg', said the husband.

Well, this was a great idea, until half an hour in, when we realised that we'd both been watching Reg. Percy was nowhere to be seen, having taken full advantage of us watching Reg, and was having a merry old time with the very tolerant Hugo behind the beach huts.

Miss R is coming with us this year.  Perhaps three sets of eyes might be an improvement.  

You never know, we might even bring the right ones home...