Banjo on my Knee

None of the forecast snow yet; we wake up to beautiful clear skies and bright sunshine. That biting wind is still blowing, though. We get two walks today, one round the Rec to let off steam, and have a good run around with brown nondescript terrier (no offence!) Murphy and one, later to Challock Forest. In between the humans have a bit of a lazy morning reading the papers and what-not, and Dad scoots up to the allotment to give it one last tidy-up mow before winter really sets in.

Mum's off to the shops with Diamond in the "normal" car, so Dad and we dogs are 2CV-ing it to the forest. The leaves are all down - the chestnut, larch and even the beech are in stark skeleton form, and the forest floor is a blanket of the russets and browns of slightly soiled, bedraggled autumn leaves.

Here we meet and chase about with 6 month old black and white Staffie, Banjo. "Why Banjo?" asks Dad. Well, when he was a pup he used to like perching on my knee when ever I sat down, and "her indoors" called him Banjo on my Knee, and the name stuck. Fair enough.

It's a good walk, and now we're all crashing out in various corners of the house to sleep at each other.... Dad included

Deefer

12 dog; 12 2CV

What an adventure we've all had. It's 2CV camp time of year again, and we've just spent the last 3 nights living "en famille" with a whole group of 2CV owners and their multitudinous dogs and vehicles. Some have named it the 12 dog 12 2CV camp because the dogs almost out numbered the cars.

There were, in no particular order

We three
Collie crosses "Ben" and "Nellie"
Red Setter "Murphy"
Alsatian cross "Socks"
Staffie cross Jack Russell "Barney"
Staffie cross "Scooter"
Collie cross "Badger"
Brindled greyhound "Janie"
Elderly mongrel from Yorkshire, "Kaira"

More of all these guys, and the camp in future posts. Now it's Sunday morning and we are back indoors because Dad is off to play on Sailing Barge "Cambria". It's been a real blast. Rained hard Thursday and had some pessimists saying "Oh, no.... not another Hoppers Camp with typical weather.... gloom gloom". But the sun burst through on Friday morning and the rest of Friday and Saturday were blazing hot sunshine.

The humans all have healthy tans and I have the traditional well oiled (sump oil) back from creeping under old French cars to find shade from the heat. Superb barbecue yesterday, too. The humans all cook communally on a big barbie cobbled together from (among other things) a 2CV bonnet and a shopping trolley, and they always cook too much, so we can schmooze them up into giving us the end bits of sausages and nibbles of burger. The non dog-owner ones anyway. Dog people seem to "know" dogs and can be very un co-operative

More soon
Deefer

Murphy

Some more camping shots. Here we have "the balloon killer westie game" of which more later , a rather artistic one of my shadow on a 2CV door in the low early morning sun. Dad was just drinking his early morning coffee and he spotted the shape just to his right; and one of Haggis and I chilling inside the tent. I am on a restraining order here (=lead) so it must be a meal time, and there are people eating around the site. Also, why does Haggis get the inflatable bed and I'm on a scrunched up doggie towel.

The rather smart Setter is a young handsome man called Murphy who took a shine to me (as I did to him). He promised to take me shopping in the "antiquities quarter" but as you can see from the pic, he just meant we'd check out the prices in the 2CV spares corner. Holiday romances? My Dad warned me about them. Said he'd write... said he'd call. You know the rest, surely.

Balloon killing. I'll save that for tomorrow - it deserves a blog of it's own. We're all home now and crashed out at various corners of the house. Also, delight of delights, Mum comes home tonight from her week in the Greek Island of Poros, where she's been with Diamond. Tonight as in "midnight plus" though, so we're not allowed to stay up.

Deefer