Alcohol And The Power Of Prayer

It was a very pleasant slide into work on the bike, excellent in fact. The roads were largely ice free, although the pavements (the council calls them cycle paths) were dreadful, the odd time I ventured onto one. I’d worry about anyone out walking a collie this morning.

The weather is somewhat appropriate because today I 'virtually' pass Aviemore. I'm now about 30km outside Inverness, which is really the last sizeable civilisation on my route. Then it's just the ride up the coast road to John O'Groats.

Talking of the weather, L reckons it's too cold for MD at the moment and that he needs a coat. Hmmm, not sure about that, he might get bullied. She's always been desperate to have a dog with a jacket.

She's also hit a hitch on her channel swim; the pool was closed this morning because of a staff shortage. She wouldn’t have had that problem if she was really out there in the channel. Despite this though she should still be in France before I make it to John O'Groats.

Those staff problems seem to have been addressed by the time I get to the pool and for the first time in, what seems like, ages I get a swim.

At dog class later, we're doing 'shaping' and 'layering' which sounds more like a hairdressing course but these are agility techniques. Not ones we usually adhere to because they apply mainly to the faster dogs. 'Shaping' is all about getting smooth fast turns, where as we have slow but tight ones. Whilst 'layering' is basically working your dog from a distance and, although we can do it, Doggo likes me to hold his paw as he goes around and I can run fast enough to stay with him. It's not the fastest way of running a course but we've done alright out of it.

Tonight though I pay more attention that usual because, although not of much use for Doggo, I feel these are techniques I may need, along with alcohol and the power of prayer, when MD is ready to hit the start line.