Birthday dog!

Bike

The first prospective builder came round to revise the kitchen renovation job. It changed quite a lot after he'd been. We liked him, he was efficient, his quote was set out clearly. And he was nice to Archie. But he can’t start till mid January, which we'll just have to fit in with. Another few weeks won’t make any difference.

JR had to get up because he was coming, otherwise she'd've had another day in bed. We cancelled a birthday lunch for Rufus, but he wasn’t too bothered - he went out for lunch anyway. And I don’t think she'll be fit enough for lunch out with Uncle Angus tomorrow - she's even cancelled her Friday fitness sessions.

The sun came out in the afternoon, as predicted on the BBC weather website, and so I took Archie out for a walk. I didn’t want to go up the hill, as it was so squishy and squashy and generally unpleasant underfoot, so I decided to take him to Braidburn Valley Park - a nice tarmac path to walk on! No mud! Archie had fun rushed hither and thither and meeting other dogs, and- yay - he didn’t need a beard/foot wash when he came home - just a brush.

Later in the afternoon he and I went down to visit Rufus and his mum, where I helped demolish the birthday cake. JR reluctantly stayed on the sofa, coughing like a life-long smoker. Archie reluctantly put on his party attire for the occasion.