Chilly evening

No more stray dogs on the beach this morning. The mother and puppy were left in the Small Dog Compound whilst we were out with the others. I gave them all except Boris and Obi to Ursula to hold when we returned and suggested she might clip them to the gate whilst I removed the other two from the compound. Ursula discovered just how strong they can be when they wish to go somewhere. I did warn her!

The day has been quiet other than the usual trip to the supermarket and a chat with a Swiss couple who live in Anydri with three dogs. They were out exercising them on the promontory. I went to have a nose around where the machine is working so took Heidi and Millie as ‘cover’. If I were Greek, I’d simply accost the driver and ask him a series of questions. People here are more direct. The  Swiss have been living here for a while even though their car still bears Swiss plates. They work from here and seemed a nice couple. They have three medium dogs, one of which has a bit of a brain defect so is constantly falling over and doing strange things.

The machine is grubbing out the trees and bushes to the northeast of my van, adjacent to the road. It may be that some villas are to be built there. Time will tell and it appears, at least for now, it will not affect me.

I came back to a bit of a racket and chatted briefly with my Dutch neighbour. The Small Dogs are not too happy about the infiltrator so are a bit edgy at present.

There was a power cut for a couple of hours so I decided to get my gas kettle out for some tea. By the time I got round to it, the power was back on again so I used my electric kettle.

The mother dog has got over her shyness and even ventured into the van. I spent some time trying to brush some of the knots out of her coat but didn’t manage to do it all. Her little boy spent most of the time asleep or eating although he had some time out, played with her and ran about. Later I let him out again and Obi and Luis also joined in. When we went for our walk she came but he remained behind with Boris who is still having a bit of a Bad Boris Time although better than yesterday.

I went out to see Ursula off and she and he followed me through the gate and disappeared. I fed the others and was dealing with Dave when Millie started to bark in her cage. The mother had reappeared without her puppy. I fed her, finished off Dave and went for a lovely, hot shower. When I returned, the puppy had still not come back so I took her out for a walk on the beach in case she wanted to find him. To no avail and she seemed unconcerned. He is small enough to go anywhere so can get under the gate if he wishes to come in. She is lying on the big dog bed under the awning, sleeping.

Ursula brought me some bean stew which is reheating as I write. Tony elected not to come out on the evening walk as the weather was not spectacular. He has been with us more times during this short stay than he did during the entire summer, so progress is being made. Ursula is talking about adopting Heidi as she thinks it would be good for her to have to walk every day and for Tony to focus on something other than sitting around the house doing very little. I suggested she might like Oskar as well as I’m not sure how he would be without her. There seems to be a bit of a connection.

The bean stew smells lovely and is hot enough to eat so I will.