Dogs and Horses
I should get around to typing up and posting the last of the Eastercon report sometime, meanwhile other things have been occupying me.
Took Draco for his fifth agility lesson yesterday. I was a bit worried that my aches and pains would make it harder for me to chase round the jumps, but a bit of a jog in the afternoon seemed to loosen things up. Got to the venue to find that there were fewer people around than usual (lots taking the extended holiday I guess) which meant that we had more time to concentrate on actually teaching Draco a few things. He now understands the weave (though still has to be led trough it on lead - I need to find some way of practicing on our own - sadly the local woods are short on rows of saplings planted 20 inches apart). He adores jumping, and the dog walk - to such an extent that we tried him off the lead for the first time on both, with a certain amount of success - though since I can't get to the end of the walk before he does he's now taken to missing the contact point - will have to (a) learn to run faster and (b) use the trick of putting a treat on the bottom ramp. The problem is tunnels. In which he lurks (and, last night, marked). Well, he is a terrier and is presumably waiting for rabbits. Instructor suggested tempting him out with a squeaky toy (though he does eventually respond to his clicker). Next week, since we have now proved our commitment, we'll sign up properly.
He got an early walk this morning, as we wanted to catch the ceremonial bits of the Royal Wedding - which were worth catching. Nice that the weather held up, and the carriages looked splendid (though I suspect that the Windsor Greys don't usually get driven by postilions, they (the horses) looked a bit puzzled). We usually get to see the Battle of Britain flight on its way over from Essex, but on this occasion low cloud seemed to have diverted them. Not terribly impressed by the BBC commentary team, who might have done a bit more explaining and naming than they did, and the 'bleed-through of sound between the various locations - so that you could still hear the wedding music from inside the Abbey when the couple emerged into what should have been (and was, on the recorded highlights) a wall of cheers, and the BoB engine noise over the procession was not good.
Have to mention the ugly sisters York girls hats, which appeared to have been put on the wrong way round (who wears hats on their forehead?). Though at least whoever was sitting behind Beatrice would have had an unobscured (if porthole) view of the event.
Back in 81 Lil and I avoided the Royal Wedding shenanigans and my main memory of that occasion was sharing a carafe of Paul Mason red plonk and making the decision to stop renting and buy a flat together.
What I should have been doing today was a bit more house-repair so that we can sell this one and get out of London before the Olympics hit...
Took Draco for his fifth agility lesson yesterday. I was a bit worried that my aches and pains would make it harder for me to chase round the jumps, but a bit of a jog in the afternoon seemed to loosen things up. Got to the venue to find that there were fewer people around than usual (lots taking the extended holiday I guess) which meant that we had more time to concentrate on actually teaching Draco a few things. He now understands the weave (though still has to be led trough it on lead - I need to find some way of practicing on our own - sadly the local woods are short on rows of saplings planted 20 inches apart). He adores jumping, and the dog walk - to such an extent that we tried him off the lead for the first time on both, with a certain amount of success - though since I can't get to the end of the walk before he does he's now taken to missing the contact point - will have to (a) learn to run faster and (b) use the trick of putting a treat on the bottom ramp. The problem is tunnels. In which he lurks (and, last night, marked). Well, he is a terrier and is presumably waiting for rabbits. Instructor suggested tempting him out with a squeaky toy (though he does eventually respond to his clicker). Next week, since we have now proved our commitment, we'll sign up properly.
He got an early walk this morning, as we wanted to catch the ceremonial bits of the Royal Wedding - which were worth catching. Nice that the weather held up, and the carriages looked splendid (though I suspect that the Windsor Greys don't usually get driven by postilions, they (the horses) looked a bit puzzled). We usually get to see the Battle of Britain flight on its way over from Essex, but on this occasion low cloud seemed to have diverted them. Not terribly impressed by the BBC commentary team, who might have done a bit more explaining and naming than they did, and the 'bleed-through of sound between the various locations - so that you could still hear the wedding music from inside the Abbey when the couple emerged into what should have been (and was, on the recorded highlights) a wall of cheers, and the BoB engine noise over the procession was not good.
Have to mention the ugly sisters York girls hats, which appeared to have been put on the wrong way round (who wears hats on their forehead?). Though at least whoever was sitting behind Beatrice would have had an unobscured (if porthole) view of the event.
Back in 81 Lil and I avoided the Royal Wedding shenanigans and my main memory of that occasion was sharing a carafe of Paul Mason red plonk and making the decision to stop renting and buy a flat together.
What I should have been doing today was a bit more house-repair so that we can sell this one and get out of London before the Olympics hit...