Thorns, Ticks and the Thames

It was quite a painful morning for my dog, Ollie and I. I wandered into the garden first thing, to check on the plants and pop a few naughty snails into a bag. I suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and had been spiked by a thorn on my rose bush...ouch! I've got a bit of a lump on there now.

On the subject of lumps, Ollie had a huge grey lump under his long fur on his nose and I realised it must be a tick! It was absolutely huge! We finally managed to remove, it after muzzling poor Ollie's mouth up with a long sock so he didn't bite us. What revolting things ticks are! The legs were wriggling, but at least I think (I hope) we got the whole of it out. I think he must have got it from the long grass area in the park.

It was raining this afternoon, but I went for a walk along the Thames to Surrey Docks farm. I went in the cafe there for a coffee, hoping the rain would stop. This sad-looking donkey was looking a bit fed up with the weather too, you can just about see the pouring rain coming down (or maybe that was my dirty lens)!