BAD DAY

I found myself up this morning at 0430 when i heard Megan panting downstairs, it was not that warm so i can only presume that is was a pain pant, i let her into the garden where she did a one and a two, she came in and had a massive drink of water then went to sleep without panting.

I need to get it into my head that she is an almost 12 year old Boxer with a usual life span of 7-9 years, she still has good days and the odd bad days , however i know the bad days are starting to out do the good ones.

I am so looking forward to our holiday in Wales with her in September, maybe her last, who knows ( welling up now).

We will drive to many places and have nice picnics and sit in picturesque places, she can walk but she gets tired really quick so we will have to limit the walking. She may shock us and be so excited about new surroundings she may get a new lease of life.

I land from Los Angeles late in the morning of the day we drive to Wales so i will be shattered , i will have to prepare my clothes and other stuff i am taking before i go, must not forget the tartan rug, now that is when you know you are getting old!!!

I suppose when i put the folding deck chairs in the boot of the car and a wicker picnic hamper is another sure sign of maturity, ( prefer that to getting old).

Mum and dad flew home to Newcastle this morning, miss them already, great having them here, dad did his usual thing of looking for jobs and persuading me to have a chrome towel radiator in the bathroom which would take him 2 hours to fit, 2 days later and 4 trips to B&Q and it is up and running, and it does look great and modernises the bathroom and ties the chrome in with the rest of the fittings.

Our house seems empty since they have gone, no smell of home cooking, or their mugs next to the kettle, just the towels and bedding in the washer and dryer is my only memory, i do have a dog very close who is snoring like a pig but at least she is not panting.

The weather is not good, dull, wet and dreary, what i would do to be stress free and sitting on the balcony of a nice cruise ship in the bay of Villefranche in the south of France, it must be my favourite cruise port, nestled between Monte Carlo/Monaco and Nice it is a cute French fishing port with lovely old houses with coloured wooden window shutters, olde worlde shops , bars and coffee shops, a railway station close by will whisk you to Nice in the West and Monaco in the East, been to both and love them , it always feels safe, spotlessly clean and full of rich people who own multi million pound houses and yachts.

The only other place i get this feeling of safety and "at home" is the Boston, New England region of the USA, this started when i became addicted to Murder She Wrote in the early 80's then when i started flying and visited these quaint American towns i realised that they were exactly the same as had been portrayed on the tv, gorgeous little shops with bells that ring when you enter, old cash registers and the smell of wood, paint and the odd incense burner.

I still say if i was regressed i was a wealthy person living in this area of USA in a previous life, it is a weird feeling when i am there and i feel depressed when i have to leave.

I will be in New York City on Tuesday 24th August and back in UK after a night flight landing in London on 26th, on 27th i fly back across the Atlantic to Newark New Jersey for an identical stop over getting home on Sunday morning, i quite like this trip as some of the East coast destinations are dreary, particularly Washington DC and Montreal Canada.