Wednesday 25 July 2018

Percy the dog

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June started off with a bang and ended with plenty of licks and in-between it was just as hectic. The new Northern Distributor Road snaking around the north of Norwich has not been open for long and already it is causing quite a stir when it comes to its design, and more specifically the safety of the roundabouts along its route. I know the N.D.R has been given a new name, but to date, I haven’t heard anyone call it by this new name, and I think for many years to come its original name will stick.  So there I was driving around one of these said roundabouts when another car came crashing into the side of my car. We both pulled over and once we had established that we were both psychically ok we dully swapped names, numbers, and addresses. It took me totally by the surprise the lady was very apologetic about causing the accident.


Before this incident, I had read many different views about the design and safety of this new road with roughly half thinking it’s badly thought out, and the other half saying its fine and it’s all down to the drivers. Well, I was only in second gear and my speed had not even reached twenty miles an hour so I know it was not down to my driving. I must admit it did shake me up for the next week and I was very cautious whenever I had to go around a roundabout, which there are plenty of in Norwich.








But as Mary likes to say in my Daniel Jones series of books, there is always a but in life, but this extra stress was soon relieved when we had a new member join the King family. We received a call from a lady that helps to rehome dogs. She knew we were looking to give a loving home for our first dog after our family cat, Sunny, passed away after nearly seventeen happy years. She knew of a dog just over a year old that needed immediately rehoming because of family health issues. We said yes and that day he joined us. Within a day or two, it’s as if he has been part of the family since he was a puppy, and everyone loves him to bits, but more importantly, we know he loves us just as much.







Where there’s food, there’s a Percy! That’s a new saying that I came up with over the last four weeks since we got our new member of the King family, Percy the dog. I’ve already thought of using this sentence in my third book of the Daniel Jones series somewhere in the final quarter of the manuscript I am nearly finishing. Percy knows just the right technique to pull at your heartstrings and can hear the rustle of a food wrapper or the fridge door opening wherever he is in the house, and even when he is apparently asleep.

Sunny our cat that passed away earlier in the year was quite refined when food was about. She would sit proudly on the floor near to the kitchen table with her back straight with a regal look on her face which said, “I won’t belittle myself by begging, but if you wish to spare a small piece of your meal with me, I might just think about.”  

Percy the dog though has no qualms. He will get as close as possible to you and plonk his chin on your leg, then look up to you with his gorgeous brown eyes through his bushy white eyebrows and just beg, “please, please, please share your meal with me, I haven’t eaten for so long I can’t remember when last it was.”






You look at his empty food bowl that only five minutes earlier had been placed on the floor brimming with the best pet food money can buy, and you just feel yourself giving in. My wife has more self-control than me and will not give in to Percy’s charm, and the children get a warful look if they too try to give him a morsel, and even I will get a warning shot across the table if I look like waving as well. But, I find a way of dropping the odd piece accidentally on the floor that Percy will vacuum up quicker than a brand new Dyson!   

Regards

Mark

Monday 2 July 2018

Lazy evening on the beach

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The first bank holiday of the year was a surprise. Monday evening sitting on Eccles Beach with the sun beating down as it gently settled in the distance with the shore-line to ourselves except for the occasional dog walker, and it was just heavenly. We had a small barbecue firing away with a mixture of sausages and burgers sizzling on top while a small trail of smoke wafted into the air. My daughter’s friend had stayed the Sunday for a sleepover and as the two of them soaked up the sun my boy splashed into the water with his mini surfboard. I took control of the cooking like a caveman standing guard over the fire while keeping a watchful eye on any beast that might dare to snatch my hard fought for meal.






A beautiful looking dog with long brown shaggy hair that had sniffed the delights carried on the wind came closer and closer hoping to gain a treat. It immediately caught the attention of all the children who came over, and gave it plenty of fuss which it gladly enjoyed. Its owner joined us and we chatted. Once they had left the requests by the kids for us to get our own family dog got louder and louder. Since our cat Sunny passed away after fifteen happy years the children would now love to get a family dog as a replacement.









I soon distracted them with some delicious barbecued food. We sat on towels with our toes in the sand. We also enjoyed a good old fashioned 99 Ice-cream from a van parked on top of the cliff. It was a glorious bank holiday weekend weather wise and a real treat. Most years you can expect wind, rain, grey skies and generally a washout for the early May Day weekend, but not this year. If only our weather could be more predictable, but then again it’s such an influence on the British mentality It’s probably one of the reasons us Brits are so unpredictable, and something the politicians should have taken into account before calling the E.U Referendum, and expecting to automatically get the result they wanted!   

Regards

Mark