Floss

Woke up in London and drove up to Chelmsford to collect our new Lakeland Terrier puppy, Floss. She's eight weeks old. This is her in our back garden this evening, playing with her ball.

It's been 15 months since our last dog, Molly, went to the big kennel in the sky. She'd been with us from a pup, for 13 years, and she had climbed more mountains with me than anyone else, and accompanied me on loads of long marathon training runs. It feels great to have a dog in the house again. The kids are fizzing. But curiously my thoughts are with Molly: she was a good one, and I realise now just how much I have missed her.

It'll be quite a while before Floss can come on big walks or long runs, but she's a hardy mountain breed so I have high hopes for when she's grown up.