It’s been a brilliant evening with much productivity.
Vin and I schooled in the indoor arena (I love that facility!) and Vin, it’s no exaggeration to say, was a complete and utter star. He showed real class from the moment we started our working-in through to completing the exercises that JP set as our homework.
It’s bloody cold up at the yard, the sudden drop in temperature has put a biting chill on everything; during the day Vin’s been stepped up to his medium-weight, full-cover New Zealand rug. At night he’s on double stable rugs, the outer being a full-cover medium-weight too; he’s as warm as toast underneath his layers – wrapped right up to his ears.
After kisses, hugs, pats and carrots it was homewards bound. The journey is starting to get hazardous. The quantity and thickness of fallen leaves on the country lanes makes driving less certain, but you wouldn’t think so to see some of the twunts who come zooming around tight corners as if they have a direct line to Gravity Dot Com. The crossroads just west of Leafield is, in particular, v.dangerous.
Anyway.
The Joneses are at home. Tea has been cooked and eaten, the washing up has been, erm, washed up and tomorrow morning’s podcast has been recorded early and ftp’d to the server – though not released yet (but trust me on this… tomorrow’s episode is a four star blinder!).
Mugs of tea have been dispensed and an episode of Little Dorrit is on the television. And then bed. And an episode of Angel, perhaps?
But if any little fuckers come knocking at the door looking to extract money or sweets through the annual process of extortion we call “Hallowe’en” they’re in for two chances. Slim and No. And Slim’s just left town.
We’re off to London village tomorrow to attend a book launch. I’ll write about that in detail another time, I don’t think the author would want his work to be associated with such ramblings in this post. 🙂
On Sunday we’re off to Worcestershire to be royally fed by the in-laws. I think we should stop eating now in preparation.
B.
Ahhhh you’re like a halloween scrooge!
I’m knackered after doing the halloween walk with my boys last night, but in my town, we only knock on doors with pumpkins outside, never knock on a door who hasn’t got one.
I’m with you Bren. The last thing I want is someone’s children invading my privacy to beg for sweets or money. Listen parents. Give your kids an education. We don’t want them disturbing our peace and quiet. If we wanted our peace and quiet ruined we’d actually have our own little brats.
Parents: Why do you want to make everyone else suffer the same fate that you have to live with 24/7?
This horrible American custom is nothing more than a form of robbery. I’m just waiting for the first court cases where parents are sued by people who have been disturbed, threatened or had property vandalised by these little thugs. A couple of high profile court cases, that’s what we need.
And even attempting to equate Halloween with Christmas in ‘Scrooge’ comment Trixie is misleading at best, dishonest at worst. The two events are not the same and it’s about time the child-rearing parents started to realise this simple little fact!
I thought that was just a custom restricted to this side of the pond. Sorry to hear it’s migrated.
Did you hear about the woman who interrogated 4 year olds when they came to her door, asking who their parents were voting for? Anyone who gave the wrong answer, their kids were refused chocolate.
(An equal opportunity No Chocolate policy is one thing, but that was Scrooge-ing those little children.)
I tend to set the dog on Trick or Treaters. The sight of 40kg+ of grey dog hurtling out of the front door usually gets the message across 😀
I’m loving the idea of the person above to set the dog on the little sods. Sadly, 18kg of skinny black mongrel jumping up and down and wagging its tail so hard that its backside waves from side to side fails to inspire fear in even the weediest of kids.
Vin sounds to be on form. Actually, there’s something I meant to ask you, do you know of anywhere that is chucking out old, used or scruffy outdoor winter rugs? The reason I ask is that where I walk the dog there is a field of horses and ponies that some woman has rescued. She has as much idea about equine care as I have about brain surgery and despite the fact that there’s more meat on a vegetarian sausage than there is on some of these creatures only one of them is wearing a rug and it’s not a winter one either. I did tackle her about it and she says they don’t need rugs. She’s wrong. I can’t afford to buy winter rugs for a whole fieldfull so I’m asking anyone I know who has anything to do with horses if they know of anyone who is planning to chuck any out!