Train trial

There are no photos today because events that I am reporting were deemed 'too stressful' for the camera operator...

It seems that my predecessor Hamish the Westie used to travel quite often by railway, and Gail has decided that it would be useful if I could accompany her on train journeys too.

She has this idea that it is more relaxing than driving, when long distances are involved (like visiting Granny and Granddad, 400 miles away).

I think that now, following a trend that will be familiar to those who take an interest British politics, this supposedly brilliant idea is 'under review'.

Last weekend I was taken for a 'training ride', to Huntly. By Scotrail it's an hour from Aberdeen.

Really I think I was most well-behaved.

I didn't bark - well, scarcely at all. I didn't 'mark' anyone's luggage, either on or off the train. Nobody's crisps were stolen. (OK, I admit I tried. Repeatedly. I mean some passengers are virtually inviting you to sample their lunch, rustling their crinkly food bags and leaving tasty smelling morsels within WFT reach on the table and so forth.) No-one got bitten. (I was just curious about what the ticket collector's trousers would feel like in my mouth, that's all.) I kept Gail entertained by constantly bouncing on and off her lap. (So much more interesting for her than the big fat book she was trying to read. You can tell that 'cos after a while she sighed - fondly, I'm quite sure - and put the book back in her bag.)

In Huntly we visited an ruined castle, historic seat of the Gordon clan, and had an agreeable walk around a wood and along the river Deveron.

I can't imagine why, when Gail's friend Margaret asked how it all went, Gail rated my behaviour a mere five out ten. And then said something about perhaps asking the vet for a sedative before we head down to Nottingham next week...