Apologies for being a slack blipper of late, but I’ve at last caught up with mine, so I just need to catch up with everyone else now.

Creamy scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for breakfast this morning. Yum yum.

We’ve been working up to the DIY painting job. I fully intended starting today by patching up the wee holes where various pictures have been hung (not all in our time) and moving stuff. But then it was so sunny in the afternoon - morning was reading the papers - that we went out for a walk round the Meadows instead - can’t waste a sunny day!

We popped in (to the front garden) to visit Rufus and his mum. And Christine declared that a big DIY job sounds like a New Year task... very sensible!

Wee Kaiser (the schnauzer puppy who lives round the corner) came by. We haven’t seen him for ages, and his dad told us why - he’d been attacked by a staffy-type dog in town. His back leg had been broken in two places, and he’s been confined in the house for weeks. It sounded absolutely horrific, with the dad on the ground, punching the staffy, but they just don’t let go. Then a passer-by knew the trick - you shove a finger up his the dog’s rear end! Yep - the dog let go. Handy to know, that one...

PS I should really add that the police arrived, the owner ran off, but he is known to them, and the dog was supposed to be muzzled.