Cold........ And a 'census' RANT!!!

Hasn't it been cold today? I went to the park at 7.15am for a play and it was really cold and frosty. However, it is soooooo nice that the mornings are getting lighter. It wasn't that long ago that I was having to wear my illuminating collar on my morning walk and just trek around the streets on my lead.

Ann went to work 9.30-1.30pm and came home absolutely frozen. When she first started working at 'Wilkies' in November she was told that the shop door had to stay open for ventilation. Mmmmmm.......... she thinks the door has to stay open so that people realise that the shop is open??!! Or maybe it's just a ploy to make her buy warm cosy items. You wouldn't believe the amount of clothes she has bought since starting work there. She seriously could become the 'Face of Wilkies' Lol?!!! Anyway she was wearing a sweater and a cardigan obviously she was wearing other clothes as well and was really cold, so before I went for my afternoon walk she had to have lunch and warm up.

Unfortunately after 45 mins she hadn't managed to warm up, but Ann is such a nice 'Collie pup mummy' that I get taken out even if she does think she's suffering from hypothermia OK slight exaggeration so she said, 'Trixie, I need food and you need dental sticks, let's go to Aldi and then I will take you to Fairmilehead Park to play with your ball.' So that is what we did.

20 mins of playing with my ball probably equals about 2 hrs of walking. I get worn out really quickly if I'm playing with my ball. This is a BLIP of me having a little rest underneath the branches of a fallen tree. Ann can't get to me there so I can rest for as long as I want. Ann just continues walking and when I'm ready, I run after her and drop the ball so that she can throw it again. However, once I've flopped down three times, that's game over and we go home.

Playing with my ball made me very hungry so I asked for my dinner at 4.30pm (I usually get my dinner between 5.30-6pm) so Ann has given me a carrot to keep me going....................

Oh and just because we like to use BLIP as a diary of our life.............. The 'Scottish Census Questionnaire' arrived through our letter box today. 'Scottish Census Day is 20th March 2022 yes we know it was done in England last year but apparently one can fill it in now, so Ann's done it, just to get it over and done with. In the blurb, it says it takes about 15 mins to complete. It took Ann 20mins. However, it's all got to be done online which involves creating a password and supplying a 'recovery email address'. Apparently all the information is 'protected' for 100 years?!!


Mmmmmm............... my human isn't convinced it's going to produce an 'accurate' portrayal of life in Scotland in 2022. It's all being done on a data base and as we all know; not everyone's life fits into little boxes???!!! A lot of the questions are very ambiguous to say the least. But hey ho, my human has completed it to the best of her ability and submitted it so there's no going back now.


PS – Just a thought.................... there were no questions re whether there was a pet in the household? Considering the whole world OK slight exaggeration acquired dogs in lock down, then surely that must have an impact on parks/open spaces/poo bins/etc.


PPS – One of the questions was: 'Do you understand Scots language', Can you speak Scots language, Can you read Scots language, Can you write Scots language? My human didn't have a clue what 'Scots language' was until she clicked on the 'more info' button. …..........Apparently it's just the dialect of different areas of Scotland. Well, she understands it, but can she speak, read or write it? Who knows, 'cos she's never tried???  


Not entirely sure if that question is relevant to anything.  She had to fill out the 'English Census' last year for our 'English home' and  from what she can remember there were no questions about 'English dialects' but there could have been.  Who knows??


PPPS – she answered NO to all the questions about Gaelic.