Dilemma

Camila postponed her Archie day today - seems that university work has got in the way of her doggie fun. So I had a vague idea of going out to the beach this afternoon with Archie, but the predicted dry - and possibly sunny - weather in the afternoon came too late in the day to be of use.

Plan B. Swimming. Twenty lengths. Not many people. I shared the slow lane with one man (of mature years, like moi), and while I was resting doing my dog paddling at the steps he finished and got out. Being nosy, I asked how many lengths he'd done, as he hadn't stopped all the time I was there. 100 lengths. One hundred! In an hour!! He'd fallen from a height a few years ago and broken many bones, and swimming was the thing that got him fit again.

The best thing about swimming is when it stops, actually. I spend a lot of swimming time thinking about that cup of coffee and my secret vice (Magnums are not secret) - a couple of slices of fresh soft white bread with raspberry jam.

Really enjoying the Aussie soap in the afternoons. It's a family drama, set in the Outback in the 1950s and it's got everything - a cantankerous old matriarch, a beautiful newcomer with a mysterious past, religious bigotry, homophobia, unwanted pregnancies, family secrets, clandestine affairs as well as fabulous vintage cars - excellent viewing over a coffee every day.

Here's Archie with the melted slippers from the other day (you can't see the melty soles). I was in two minds about whether he might as well just have them now that they are ruined, or would that confuse him? He wasn't allowed to chew them before, so he wouldn't understand why he's allowed to chew them now. Besides, half all of the fun for him is if he's not allowed them.

He looked a wee bit puzzled and didn't move, when I said, 'OK!'

I put them away, lest he become disturbed.