I watched the final part of the BBC Once Upon A Time In Iraq series which only goes to confirm that the greatest losers from the American and British intervention, ensuing civil war and ISIS massacres are the people of Iraq. It is very difficult to find any benefit for anyone and goes to show that the greatest winners of any war are the military hardware manufacturers!
I was tired so in bed and asleep earlier than usual. I woke with the alarm and levered myself out of bed and into action. There is no one vaguely near me now so I have no need to creep around quietly in the early mornings.
We completed our three laps then headed down to the river for the second part of the walk. Even though we were a little later than the past few days, it’s still dark by the time we set off up the river bed towards the road bridge. VGD may have been dead as he was curled up in a ball and didn’t move as we filed past in the dimness.
The dogs followed Obi, Skinny and I up the track with perhaps some diversions on the part of Charlie. He quickly came back to the fold. We walked to the 5km turning point then headed back down the river bed. It was good to have the wind blowing from behind as it was still quite strong and against us on the walk up the valley.
A young woman was sitting on the beach where the river joins the sea. She was taking a selfie and seemed oblivious to our presence. The dogs felt the same about her and we carried on. The sea was still lumpy so there was no interest in bathing from me or the dogs.
I put the dogs into the van then went off for a ride to Krios. The wind has damaged some of the plastic greenhouses and others are being repaired or demolished ready for replacement. There was no one present so I turned back when I arrived at Krios. A pretty uneventful ride in still fairly windy conditions.
I went straight down to the beach to have a look at the sea before leaving my T-Shirt, shoes and phone on the sand. There were waves so they were not easy swimming conditions and the sea was stirred up. I didn’t stay in for very long as I considered I’d probably already done quite well with a walk, a ride and a swim with perhaps another later in the day.
I released the dogs and fed them before hosing myself down in the SDC. The next operation was to prepare breakfast which had the usual accompaniment of dogs.
Another light day with only one support incident which required little action from me. More a case of making the right noises. The wind abated so I was able to put the SunBlocker back in position. It should remain reasonably calm for a few days.
Maria arrived bearing a parcel containing a remote collar and transmitter from the eBay auction a week or so ago. This was from the guy who eBay withheld the money from. He might have to wait a little longer still as there was a connector missing so it’s not possible to charge the remote transmitter. I spent time today contacting him to arrange for the correct item to be sent out. More expense for him and more delay for me. Unfortunately, this transmitter uses another type of charge connector to the model I have already. Another collar and remote are on the way from a different auction but they only use the same charger as the present one. This remote is programmable for six collars and has a large digital display with backlight which can be seen in the dark. It’s also possible to choose between tone, vibrate and stimulate using the side buttons. The downside is that you have to look to see which is the ‘active’ collar/dog whereas my present controller has three buttons, each dedicated to a certain collar. I can feel the buttons so know which one activates which dog. The new controller has a far greater range so there will be little chance of escaping me!
The wind has got up again so the SunBlocker is flapping around a little but I don’t really want to take it down again.
Today’s high is 35.6℃ and the awning thermometer was reading 29.4℃ at 04:35 so I needn’t have taken a T-Shirt out on the walks. It’s still warm in the mornings and during the night although this evening is cooler, a chilly 28.1℃.
It’s starting to get dark so I shall go inside for some food and entertainment.
As far as I know, Skinny has made no further escape attempts and is playing boisterously with Isabella. I have yet to shock myself today…
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