Not a relaxing Sunday

A day of drama and, indeed - trauma…

We set off after lunch for a visit to Cramond today. As we were getting in the car, the neighbour came running out and told us that a fledgling seagull had fallen out of the nest and landed in Archie’s play area. It wasn’t yet dead. Eeek!

I tried to bribe her to get her husband to move it, offering beers as a reward. Then I thought I’d better make an effort, as it was in our bit. I went back in and there it was - a huge baby bird about a foot long, with long legs making it about two feet long. Thankfully it was now well dead. It was right at our kitchen door!!

I don’t know how I did it, but I got it into a plastic bag without fainting. The neighbour was traumatised too, because she heard the thump. They are a real nuisance actually - they shit everywhere and dive bomb the neighbour’s cat and I’m sure they do the same to Archie, though I’ve never witnessed this.

That drama dealt with, we proceeded to the beach, discussing various scenarios that might have happened - we might have been sitting out having a barbecue and it landed on us, it would have just missed the BBQ by a foot or so... We might have been elsewhere and Archie was there and discovered it and - this doesn’t bear thinking about - feathers and blood all over the kitchen...And a sick Archie.

Talking of a sick Archie… He’s been in the car many times, and indeed travelled four hours to get here when he was a wee puppy. No bother. We congratulated ourselves on having a dog that wasn’t car sick…

He was in the back seat and began to look miserable. I could see he was going to be sick, but I just hoped he didn’t do it on my gilet, which he was lying on. It was his lunch. Dry, mostly whole, kibble. We stopped and cleaned up it wasn’t too messy, and he kindly did it on the very corner of the seat. He had a drink of water when we got there and he perked up.

He had a great time at the beach - lots of dogs to look at - some of them swimming in the sea to retrieve sticks, lots of people patting him, but lots of noisy toddlers - and he definitely doesn’t like them! He had his first ice cream - and turned his nose up at the cone.

Then, on the way home, I noticed he was dribbling a lot. We stopped and let him out for a while and I took him on my knee. Then he was sick again - I had the presence of mind to put him down in the footwell of the car, where he was sick all over the rubber mat. Poor wee lad - what a wee sad face he had.

I have never been so annoyed at the shameful state of Edinburgh roads - shuddering and bumping over potholes and shoddily fixed roadworks. It seemed such a long way home with a wee sick dog.

He's sleeping it off now.

I need to go and lie down now - a traumatic day.