test please delete

[DaveB]

Morning all.

Doggo appears to have settled in nicely now, to the point that she gives me a dirty look from her basket if I disturb her before 8:am. Todays 06:00 start was not greeted with enthusiasm.

She did at lest deign to be ushered into the garden to do the necessery before coming back in, eating a handful of her breakfast and retiring to her bed again. She was snoring loudly when I left for Client co.

[WTFH]

...
Doggo ...

Did I miss that bit?
What sort of Doggo? How old? etc.

[DaveB]

Did I miss that bit?
What sort of Doggo? How old? etc.

You did

New arrival yesterday at Chez B.

We were't expecting to get her until after Xmas but things worked out and on Saturday we brought home Ebony, a two and a half year old Staffie bitch from the RSPCA rescue centre near Doncaster.

It's been a good 5 years since we lost our last dog, also a Staffie. We'd been thinking about it on and off for the last year or so and ended up driving past the rescue centre purely by chance a couple of weeks ago, and decided on the spur of the moment to stop and ask about their adoption process.

We ended up seeing four lovely dogs who for various reasons weren't right for us, including a beutiful 7 month old husky pup who was absolutely gorgeous, but would happily drag MrsB down the road behind him and clear the six foot fence around our garden in a single bounce.

We were about to say thanks but no thanks and leave when the chap showing us the dogs suggested one last one that wasn't "on the books yet" as she was a new arrival. He disappeared and then came back with a gorgeous little brindle bitch who clicked with us on the spot. She'd been handed in by owners who had a large number of dogs and needed to regain some control over their lives. It wasn't said explicitly but the impression was it was a case of surrendering them voluntarily or having them removed under a court order.

She doesn't appear to have been abused or badly treated, she knows her basic commands and is house trained, but she hasn't been spayed and has had at least one litter of pups. She is extremely submissive and given her size and behaviour she was probably at the bottom of the pecking order in her old home.

She has settled in almost immediately, is gaining confidence by the hour and is currently sleeping off her breakfast under my desk, snoring gently. The only thing missing is that she hasn't found her voice yet. Anyone who has owned a Staffie will tell you that while they might not bark much, they have a wide vocabulary of snorts, grunts, rumbles and grumbles, and will generally insist on having the last word in any "conversation".

[covbob]

You did

What lovely news for you (and Ebony!)

[NickFitz]

Afternoon denizens

Another grey, cold, but not damp day

Might give the traditional Friday shopping a miss. I've got a DHL delivery going to a locker up at Morrison's on Monday, so I could do all shopping-related stuff then.

[NickFitz]

Might give the traditional Friday shopping a miss. I've got a DHL delivery going to a locker up at Morrison's on Monday, so I could do all shopping-related stuff then.

…aaaand it's just arrived early, so I suppose I might as well go out today instead

[NickFitz]

Parcel collected. The InPost locker displays the time the process took, from one first tapping the screen to closing the locker door, down to a hundredth of a second, clearly proud of how quick it is. This rather ignores the journey of a mile or so either way to get there and back, but you go, locker

And on the way I stopped off at my local bank branch, for we still have one, to pay in the annual cheque from my brother, who never manages to do any Christmas shopping and instead gives us cheques hastily scrawled on the morning of the 25th. They now have a machine that is capable of reading handwritten cheques so you can pay them in without having to queue for the counter or fill in one of those envelopes, which is useful

Oh, and No Shopping, as I'm determined to use up all the stuff in the jam-packed freezer and didn't need any other sundries, or not today at any rate.

So after all that excitement, it's time for a sausage roll

[NickFitz]

Something weird going on at Amazon, where it told me that a book couldn't be delivered to a locker because said locker was "full". Upon trying to have it to sent to a number of other lockers, including ones in other towns, they were also "full".

So I added another book to my basket. Now it could send the additional book to the locker, but not the first one because it's "full"

Add a third book. It can deliver both the added books to the locker by tomorrow. The first one? No, sorry, the locker's "full".

I've had this "full" nonsense off them before when I knew it not to be true, so I've finally got around to emailing them calling them out on it and asking if they can just admit that they can't get their own stock from their own warehouse to their own lockers because something's broken in their system

(Well, I didn't put it quite like that; no need to unduly hassle some poor sod working customer service.)

More on this as we get it

[DoctorStrangelove]

Dinner/lunch today was leek & tatie soup at some sort of French bistro place in Bath about 300yds from Strangelove Sis's new house.

Much of the day has been spent ripping out hideous 1960s/70s construction purporting to be built in wardrobes, fabricated by someone who had the same passion for 2", 2.5", 3", and 3.5" screws as Strangelove Pater had for 6" & 9" nails.

In a fit of insanity I took shedloads of very heavy tools with me that never got used but we nipped around the corner to a little toolshop and bought a nice crowbar and a really splendid Bahco teflon coated crosscut (maybe a rip, since I can't tell the difference) saw.

And some 1/3rd sheet sand paper that I hope will fit the 1/3rd sheet sander I bought 35 years ago.

Tea/dinner was the remainder of last Sunday's beef in that onion & carrot thing that I do, following some recipe of Strangelove Mater back in the day.

It was very nice.

To be followed by the last portion of the M&S splendiferous Xmas pud, this time with Bird's custard since I've eaten all the brandy sauce.

It was very nice too.

Now pondering on what kinema monstrosity to watch this evening.

Oh. Maybe "The Fast And The Furious (2001)".

And on the way I stopped off at my local bank branch, for we still have one, to pay in the annual cheque from my brother, who never manages to do any Christmas shopping and instead gives us cheques hastily scrawled on the morning of the 25th. They now have a machine that is capable of reading handwritten cheques so you can pay them in without having to queue for the counter or fill in one of those envelopes, which is useful

He sounds like a chap after mine own heart.

Splendid.

I just give them wads of £20s instead*.

No writing required.

But cheques are so much less convenient these days.

*Largely, it must be said, due to it being untraceable unlike a cheque.

You ain't seen me, right?

[NickFitz]

But cheques are so much less convenient these days.

Indeed