34,476 steps

We've walked a lot of steps today mainly because we've had nothing better to do!

Ann decided that she would do some volunteering at the 'Open Door'.  The 'Open Door' is a day care centre for old people and it said on their website that they were always looking for volunteers. It's just down the road from us, and although Ann hasn't been there before, it has a cafe and runs social activities for the over 65s. It's looking for volunteers to work in the cafe, or with admin, or with social media, or with dayservices. My human has the skills to do all of these things and also it might be nice to meet some local over 65s, seeing as she's going to be one herself next month?!!! She popped in this morning hoping to have a chat with someone and met a very nice lady who said they were always looking for volunteers, so could she just complete the online application form and someone would get back to her. Seriously?! 

My human has lost the will to live!!! She was there in person. Why couldn't they just have had an informal chat then. Now she feels like she's completing a job application form. It's a voluntary role, not an application for CEO of a major company.

She's going to fill in the application form this evening. She has to provide two referees?.......... character referees/work referees? Who knows?! Emergency contact details?................ is that incase she has a heart attack whilst volunteering and drops down dead? But the question that is worrying her most is, 'Why would you like to volunteer with the Open Door?' Mmmmm............. don't think, 'Because I'm bored', is the correct answer. And the other question that she can't answer atm is, 'What do you hope to get out of your time volunteering with the Open Door?' Mmmmm.......... 'Being less bored', is probably not the correct answer.

Seriously though, my human will have a think about it and complete the form to the best of her ability this evening. She was really hoping that she could have had a chat with someone today and perhaps do a couple of shifts next week. Let's hope they process the application form quickly!! We'll keep you informed....................

Sooooooooooooo....................... after that disappointment, Ann said she'd take me on a big walk. I'd already had a play in Morningside Park and was a bit sleepy, but obv I was still up for going on a big, long walk. Unfortunately, for me, it was one of these walks where Ann doesn't really have a plan of where we're going. We just set off and walk and walk and walk and walk. Today we walked 12.48 miles which took us just over 4 hours. If anyone is interested you can see our route on 'Strava'. We went through quite a large area of Wester Hailes (massive flat complex). How delivery drivers/taxis/emergency services find their way around there is a mystery? When the area was built in the late 60s/early 70s, it was said that the population was higher than the whole of Dunfermline. My human hasn't been there since the late 70s when she did a lot of her teaching practice in the schools there. And what we did notice was.............. the rubbish. There was rubbish everywhere. It was actually really quite unpleasant having to walk past it all.

My fav part of the walk though, was going through Davidson's Mains Park. Never been there before and there were loads of squirrels for me to chase in the woody bits and then a massive field for me to run around in. Unfortunately I also rolled in something a bit stinky. Ann wasn't happy with me but it couldn't be helped. Lol!!

Ended up at Silverknowles so walked along the prom to Forth Quarter Park and then jumped on a no. 38 bus at the gasworks and came home. By then I was so tired that I just flopped down in good dog mode and slept the whole way home. The bus took almost an hour to get us home (normally it's less than half an hour) because the whole of Edinburgh roads seem to be getting dug up. It was just roadworks, roadworks and more roadworks, all the way home. When we got off the bus, my human could hardly walk cos all her muscles had seized up.

Anyway, we've had a lovely walk because it was a beautiful day so now Ann is going to fill out the application form to be a volunteer in an 'old person' place. ….........And I'm just going to continue snoozing.......................

Happy Thursday Evening Blippers.

Toodles. Xx

PS – I found a manky old ball in the gutter at Davidson's Mains. How good is that?!!!


PPS - Our weather app is showing snow will be falling from 7pm this evening.  It's 7.05pm.  Snow is NOT falling??!!