Home again home again jiggedy jig

I dashed home yesterday to see Grampa who, I am pleased to report, is looking well and should be let out of hospital by the end of the week. Yay! But although he's better, he's not "better", he has, as well as the emphasemia and the asthma, an acute heart condition and so we could have a repeat of this at any time. We just need to get him to call the doctor a little sooner than at the crucial life or death moment methinks.

I stayed with the folks in Barry (that's near Cardiff for the geographically challenged) last night which, if nothing else, makes for a change of scenery. They have two 12 week old kittens and although I'm much more a dog person, they are rather sweet and endearing with their antics! It will make the next visit with The Lurchers in tow very interesting!

The only worry last night was that I couldn't reach OH on the phone. I guessed, it being Sunday afternoon of a Bank Holiday weekend, that he'd had too much to drink and fallen into a drunken stupour but it didn't stop me worrying all the same, especially as The Lurchers are with him. but finally reached him this morning and my guess was correct. He told me that he'd saved himslef some money.....he was so drunk that he decided to pull out the tooth that has been giving him pain for the last couple of weeks. pah! Who needs a dentist when you have a drunk OH!!

Grampa has been rushed to hospital again this morning. His lungs are so crap and his heart is enlarged and all the drugs they've had him on are having an adverse effect on everything else. After his last hospital stay he came home fighting fit and feeling better than ever so for this to happen again is devastating. It was touch and go this morning he was struggling so hard to get his breath. Two doctors have told Mum that there is nothing more they can do for him and to prepare for the worst. His hospital stays are getting more and more frequent and his condition worse every time.

Living so far away and only speaking to him on the phone every week hasn't prepared me for this. He always sounds so well, apart from the wheezing. He's out and about doing his shopping and shopping for his "old ladies" as he calls them, who make him cakes in return. He still drives himself about and potters inthe garden and his greenhouse, living an active life.

I don't want to think about life without my Grampa in it. He's been my rock all my life and I don't want him to go.

Wet, wet, wet and windy

We went camping in Dorset last weekend. I suspect it was the wettest and windiest weekend in Dorset since records began. But then again, it may have just felt like it, what with being in a tent an' all.

It all started on Friday afternoon..the sun was shining but it was a bit blustery. Unforutnately, a "bit blustery" is all you need to turn your tent into a giant kite. After much cursting the tent was put up and I started to fix the guy ropes. Five of them were so badly frayed that they had started to snap, even though they were fine when we last put the tent away. I then discovered the reason why they were frayed and snapping.....wandering round the tent was Lurcher No.2 calmly chewing his way through each guy rope in turn. He received a stern talking to whichdidn't entirely stop the chewing over the weekend but that rapidly become the least of our worries.

It started to rain about 10pm on Friday night and it didn't stop for the next 14 hours. We woke to a stream running through the middle of the tent which, somehow, leaked into the supposedly waterproof sleeping area. The bottom half of our bedding and the Lurcher's beds were soaked. Having just walked the Lurchers and got soaking wet, I will admit that I sat down and cried. This was no longer fun and I wanted to go home. However, as this was a clan gathering with 22 family members present, going home was not an option. Fortunately the sun broke out and I was able to get all the bedding out and pegged to the car to blow in the breeze and dry out.

Saturday night it was the wind's turn and it felt like we were in the midst of a force 10 gale. Quite how we stayed attached to the ground is beyond me. The tent caught on something inside it and got ripped, which I actually wasn't sorry about as I've been angling for a new tent anyway!! Monday we went out and bought one of these, which I thought a bit of a bargain at 99 squids!

Poker

A few days ago I needed to download RealPlayer onto my peecee. Whilst messing about with it yesterday evening I discovered RealArcade. And in RealArcade I discovered a downloadable trial game of Texas Hold'em Poker. The trial game is only meant to last for 60 minutes but if you don't close it down, you can keep playing for as long as you like. Five hours later I was still at it.......I find I could become seriously addicted to poker, which is why I don't play it for real money.

It seems like an age since I blogged...actually, that's probably because it has been an age since I blogged. Ok quick catch up:

Greyhound Gap's second annual fun dog show was a brilliant success and raised us lots and lots of squids. 1500 of them in fact! Having spent the day running round like the proverbial blue-bottomed fly, we arrived home at 9pm, waved at my brother and his girlfriend who were staying with us, and headed straight for bed. The Lurchers surfaced at around 6pm the following evening, demanded to be fed and then went back to sleep again.

The following weekend (ie. weekend before last) was spent doing homechecks for afore-mentioned Greyhound Gap. It always tickles me that many people who have no experience of living in London don't quite get the rules of driving around here. I got a phonecall and the conversation went something like this:

Can you do a homecheck?
Yep, no problem. Where?
Leytonstone.
Leytonstone!? That's bloody miles away!
No it's not, according to the AA routefinder it's only 16 miles away.
Well, it might be if you go through central London.
So why don't you?
Because....you just don't. You go round the M25 and that's a 120 mile round-trip.
*sounds of falling of chair and a muttered oath*

I went by tube.

Second homecheck was down in Hampshire and me and Lurhcer No.2 had a lovely drive down in the sunshine. Two successful homechecks and two more hounds in their forever homes. We really do need more people trained up to be homecheckers as I seem to be covering the whole of the South East on my own and I'm getting spread a bit thin!

This weekend we made use of OH's birthday present...two tickets to the Zurich Premiership Final at Twickenham. I think I've mentioned before that going to Twickers is usually quite a pleasant experience, however, the powers that be now seem determined to make the day as difficult as possible with petty little things. Firstly, our tickets said to enter by Gate Q. Gate Q was closed so we went on to Gate R, getting further and further away from where our seats were. At Gate R there was a huge long queue for bag checking. As I only had a tiny bum bag, big enough for money and mobile phone, I thought I'd get away with it. Nope. Sorry madam, that is definitely a bag. Oh boo hiss.

Then we get in there and up to the bar to get a drink. I only want mineral water, in a bottle so that I can take it in with me. The chap behind the bar takes the lid off and throws it away. Why? Because you are not allowed to take plastic bottles in with the lids on. Umm....a plastic bottle of water without a lid seems an infinitley more dangerous weapon that one with a lid, but there you go. This pettiness was compounded by the fact that if you bought a bottle of water from the vendors outside the stadium (although still within the grounds), your bottle can keep its lid.