Alpine Coaster

For my walk this afternoon we went to 'Hillend Country Park' to have a look at the 'Alpine Coaster'. The 'Alpine Coaster' opened last month and is the only one in Scotland. Unfortunately the 'Alpine Coaster' wasn't 'coasting' today so we only saw the tracks. Lol! We have since discovered that it's only open at the weekends. Not to worry................ I had a lovely 3 mile walk up the Pentland Hills.

However, we're not really sure how they decide who sits in the little sledge things................. Apparently they can take two people but have a weight limit of 22 stone. That suggests to Ann that they are suitable for one adult and a child or two children because lets face it; 75% of the Scottish population are overweight, so it's doubtful if two adults would fit in one. Also they reach speeds of up to 28mph and each individual sledge has it's own breaks, but surely if one sledge brakes and wants to go slower, then that would slow down everyone who is coming behind? Who knows how they work. Ann says we will have to go back one weekend to watch it in operation.

….................And in other news........................ I went to the vets this morning for my 6 monthly check up. I bounded into the reception area in happy, bouncy mode. But, the minute I got into the consulting room and Ann lifted me onto the table so that the vet could look at me, I went a bit crazy. The vet said, 'Do you think she needs a muzzle?' Ann said, 'NO, she's scared because a year ago a vet nicked her with the shaver when she was trying to cut tangled/matted fur out of her back end.' Fortunately the vet realised that I was a very nice little Collie so do you know what she did?..................... she took me back into the reception area so that she could finish looking at me there. How nice was that?


…...........And then................... by the time we got home, Ann had an email attaching my 'patient history' of my visit today. It said: 'Today's weight 14.4kg. Today's body condition score – 5 out of 9. Ann won't even mention the number of spelling mistakes/grammatical errors that were in such a short report.


Ann freaked out a bit. She said, 'Trixie, what is a body condition score and why have you only got 5 out of 9?' And then she felt a bit guilty, because she felt like she was turning into her mother, who always asked what everyone else had got in a test, even when Ann thought she had done well.


Ann was just about to phone the vets to find out why I had such a low score, when I'm fit and healthy and the vet hadn't said that there was anything wrong with me..................... when she decided to Google, 'what is a dogs body condition score?' Turns out it's something to do with my weight. If I'm 4 or 5 out of 9, I'm normal. If my score is lower than 4, I'm underweight. If it's higher than 5, I'm fat!!!! 


Phew!!!