Visitor

Gym ✔️

Isobel came to take Archie for the last time before she goes home to London for the summer holidays. She always says how good he's been 'today'. She'll be back in July, so it's not the usual long student holiday.

We sat out in the front garden with just Rufus, and I must say, it was nice to know that he wouldn’t bark at people going by. Though he did rush barking at a couple of passing dogs, skidding on the path and crashing into the gate. Hilarious. He did this three times, which was endlessly amusing for us. The third time he realised, just in time, that it was Archie back home, so didn’t bark - just crashed quietly into the gate.

In the afternoon, the new friend I'd bumped into on the corner the other day (thanks to Archie) arrived for a G&T. She had her lovely big glossy laid back black lab, Asha, who ignored Rufus's best growling little attacks (which scared the life out of Archie) and made herself at home. She made no attempt to snaffle any of the delicious nibbles on the table!

We had a great afternoon with Alice, but try as we might, we couldn’t find any mutual friends in Gizzo, the town in NZ where we all were in 1981. We were still quite new to town, and lived away out in the country, and she was only there three months, so it would have been pretty incredible if we had. We did have lots of Scottish connections, though. It was a fun afternoon, and hopefully we can do it again soon.

It was such a lovely sunny evening that Archie and I decided to wander down to the Meadows. I've been meaning to get an evening shot of the blossom. The place was mobbed! All sorts of ball games, including cricket. I had to keep Archie on the lead, as the barbecues would have been too tempting. They smelt pretty good. I noticed a few people taking photos of Archie! Or perhaps it was me...