but otherwise

The recent wind and the likelihood of freshness of the leaf-pile is no guarantee of safeness when it's on a popular Leithron dog-walking route, so it was subtly inspected prior to allowing the boy to blunder through it. We were supposed to be on the way home, but after circling for ten minutes then trundling up and down the slope for another ten we then paused to sit on a bench and feed ourselves some bread, which would have been much more pleasant without being harassed by two manky dogs whose owners seemed oblivious to their unpleasantness.