Visitor

Today our friend Christina visited - we haven’t seen her since we met up in a cafe in December. She brought a huge bunch of flowers. She was Archie’s friend, because she gave him tiny bits of apple.

She was delighted to see him here, because when this was arranged, Archie was to be away to his new sitter for the day/night. But the sitter texted a couple of days ago to say that the flat above her is having their kitchen done, and it’s sooo noisy. We want his first sleepover to be a success. We’ll give it a go at a later date.

So, our much anticipated Norway cruise is not to be. Which is not a huge surprise, the way the Covid cases have not been brought under control. We have a choice: full refund; a voucher for future travel; or a good deal if we book another cruise now. It was the departure from Edinburgh that attracted us, but the next one from here is to Iceland next year. A place that has never been on our holiday horizon...

But Christina, today, raved about it. And she went in WINTER! We are tempted. Surely - SURELY - we’ll be back to normal next year!? Mind you, other friends have holidayed there, and while they didn’t exactly rave about it, they thought it was ‘interesting’, declaring that if you’ve seen bubbling mud in NZ (which they have - and we have) then you won’t be amazed here.

JR and Archie went a big walk up to the Hermitage, while I couldn’t be bothered elected to stay and ring our travel consultant to discuss our options.

Today, Archie did something most unusual. He ran away, nose in the air - following a scent. He ignored JR’s frantic calls to come back, and galloped away up another path, in search of something ! JR ran after him, and eventually found him - with his ‘friend’ Bobby - a big old black hairy dog that Archie absolutely LOVES. They first met when Archie was a wee puppy, and he has always remembered him. Bobby ignores him. They do meet occasionally on the Meadows, much to Archie’s delight. 

But it’s rather alarming behaviour if, say, one of his walkers is with him.