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A walk and brunch a the Welcome Cafe
Aug. 28th, 2017 12:30 pmWith a free day — the first of many for some and just the August bank holiday for others — we met up by the river and went for the usual Sunday dog walk. The weather was fantastic — I caught the sun on my way home — and everyone enjoyed themselves, with the dogs charging in to the canal after a mix of tennis balls and sticks.
On the toepath, Tiny Flora found a hefty chunk of wood which she couldn't quite carry unassisted. Luckily Dasher was on hand to help; which meant that, after a couple of minutes, she ended up in full possession of a new toy with which to wreak havoc. Having a hyperactive spaniel charge at past you at full speed carrying a hunk of timber the size of adult's arm isn't exactly condusive to a relaxing morning and everyone was rather glad when she misplaced it somewhere towards the end of the path.
We did a tour of the field, with the non-parents among us remembering the times we'd managed to get lost as children.
Mine happened when I was quite young — somewhere between 18 months or two years old — and managed to wander off and out of a shop whilst in town with my mum. Fortunately, some passing stranger, suspecting the quite such a tiny child shouldn't be walking around on his own, asked me where my mum was and I was able to describe the shop where we'd been in enough detail that they were able to take me back there, at which point I was reunited with my understandably concerned parent. Whenver my mum mentions the story, she always says, "It's a good thing you were such a verbal child. Otherwise we'd never have got you back..."
On the gentle circuit back, we stopped by the river to allow the dogs to practice their fetching. Tiny Flora ventured into the water, but wasn't enthusiastic about going in any further than her armpits. Dasher, on the other hand, was so excited, she forgot her manners got positively whiny.
At one point, someone managed to drop a good bit of wood off the top of the little escarpment down to the beach. Unwilling to let such a quality bit of timber go, K said to A, "Go on, A! Fetch it!" And despite an initial reaction that involved obsene hand gestures — something well beyond the hounds, with their lack of opposable digits and their boundless love for playing with thrown objects — A gamely clambered down to the fetch it.
On the way home, we stopped at The Welcome Cafe for brunch, courtesy of part of last night's quiz winnings. The food was excellent — generous helpings and very tasty — with something for everyone from vegetarians to coeliacs to everyone else.
Before the food arrived the core members of the team posed for a photo, which I took, in lieu of a better camera, with my glorious Nokia C5. (For a five year-old not-very-good camera, I'm constantly surprised by how well it performs, but maybe that's just because my expectations are low) I'm not in the photo because, (a) I'm notoriously camera shy and; (b) I've missed a couple of the sessions.
On the toepath, Tiny Flora found a hefty chunk of wood which she couldn't quite carry unassisted. Luckily Dasher was on hand to help; which meant that, after a couple of minutes, she ended up in full possession of a new toy with which to wreak havoc. Having a hyperactive spaniel charge at past you at full speed carrying a hunk of timber the size of adult's arm isn't exactly condusive to a relaxing morning and everyone was rather glad when she misplaced it somewhere towards the end of the path.
We did a tour of the field, with the non-parents among us remembering the times we'd managed to get lost as children.
Mine happened when I was quite young — somewhere between 18 months or two years old — and managed to wander off and out of a shop whilst in town with my mum. Fortunately, some passing stranger, suspecting the quite such a tiny child shouldn't be walking around on his own, asked me where my mum was and I was able to describe the shop where we'd been in enough detail that they were able to take me back there, at which point I was reunited with my understandably concerned parent. Whenver my mum mentions the story, she always says, "It's a good thing you were such a verbal child. Otherwise we'd never have got you back..."
On the gentle circuit back, we stopped by the river to allow the dogs to practice their fetching. Tiny Flora ventured into the water, but wasn't enthusiastic about going in any further than her armpits. Dasher, on the other hand, was so excited, she forgot her manners got positively whiny.
At one point, someone managed to drop a good bit of wood off the top of the little escarpment down to the beach. Unwilling to let such a quality bit of timber go, K said to A, "Go on, A! Fetch it!" And despite an initial reaction that involved obsene hand gestures — something well beyond the hounds, with their lack of opposable digits and their boundless love for playing with thrown objects — A gamely clambered down to the fetch it.
On the way home, we stopped at The Welcome Cafe for brunch, courtesy of part of last night's quiz winnings. The food was excellent — generous helpings and very tasty — with something for everyone from vegetarians to coeliacs to everyone else.
Before the food arrived the core members of the team posed for a photo, which I took, in lieu of a better camera, with my glorious Nokia C5. (For a five year-old not-very-good camera, I'm constantly surprised by how well it performs, but maybe that's just because my expectations are low) I'm not in the photo because, (a) I'm notoriously camera shy and; (b) I've missed a couple of the sessions.
