Another wet walk

Today has been wet and raining all day, but we still managed to have a relatively dryish walk in the woods sheltered by the canopy of the trees. I think Xena heard a squirrel or something here - it was not a great day for photos.

After our walk Gavin and I went to our local cafe for a coffee - I think they are missing Thomas as it was busy and they looked very short staffed. I also went to the supermarket to buy as few bits and pieces to take with us to Switzerland - we have a refrigerated plug in cooler box so can take things that need to stay cool, like goats milk for Xena, as I am not sure they will have it in the supermarket in the Swiss Alps.

We had a nice chat on the phone with Thomas who is loving university life so far. What has been a big surprise for him is how many people he has met that he already knew, from his school and other schools. He started lectures on Thursday - after a reduced Fresher's Week of only 4 days, which is typical of Cambridge Uni -  and is enjoying them so far

After lunch we had a Whatsapp video call with a potential house/puppy sitter for when we go away in November. Last weekend I contacted a company that finds you possible candidates according to your requirements and by the middle of the week they offered us a short list of three people. The lady I chose is Scottish (a plus!) but now lives in the Midlands. She seemed very nice on the video interview and we are going to meet in person later this month to show her how things work in the house and with Xena. Fingers crossed it all works as it could be the start of a good working relationship. I never thought we would ever get a sitter in our house as we are so fussy, but apparently so is she, so we could be well matched!

I spent the afternoon packing - Xena has a bigger suitcase than me! Only joking, but we do need to take all her chews, puzzle toys, dog food, blankets etc - it is like travelling with a baby all over again! As we are only leaving in the afternoon we are stopping over for the night in France, near Reims. We prefer to do the long drive in one go but with a puppy it is best to break the journey.