I think Gail is lucky she has me around, to help her make the right decisions.
Take this past weekend for example.
We’d known for ages that there was going to be a village fete, ‘Feis Alligin’ taking place on 28th May, just a mile along the shore from our Loch Torridon cottage. All sorts activities were planned. Childrens games, duck races, craft stalls, a piper, a raffle…… It sounded such fun.
So I couldn’t believe my flappy little ears last week, when I overheard Gail saying to a friend, “well I was intending to go over to the cottage but the weather forecast is so dreadful, especially for the west coast, it’s going to be rain and gales the whole bank holiday weekend, I think I might be better off staying in Aberdeen.”
I like to think it was my enthusiastic bouncing around the house all Friday that persuaded her to change her mind.
So on Saturday morning Gail pointed the Mini into the increasingly strong westerly wind. The sun reluctantly accompanied us to Inverness then retreated cowering behind massed ranks of fast moving and ever darker clouds. An onslaught of horizontal rain and hail then slowed the car down as we drove across the Highlands, but thankfully the worst was over by the time we reached our cottage.
As soon as we’d unloaded the car (yes of course I helped!) I was itching to set off to the festival.
No matter that the recent downpour had turned the footpath into a stream.
And white horses were tearing up the sea loch.
Soon I spotted a crowd of people (a rare sight in this part of the world)
The signs told us we were in the right place.
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| This is Scots Gaelic for 'Welcome to the Alligin village fete' |
But, oh dear, some of the activities seemed a bit boring. For dogs that is. Did I care how many balloons there were in this car?
And Gail kept me well away from the men playing crazy golf.
And, unfortunately from the cakes too….
And dogs weren’t allowed a ride in the RAF search and rescue helicopter.
I didn’t even get to sniff or decorate the ambulance.
Just as I was beginning to wonder if we should have stayed in Aberdeen after all, I finally spotted my big chance, and, after much clamouring, persuaded Gail to part with 50p so that I could demonstrate my skills in agility.
Impressed?
Oh you must be!
Gail was trying hard not to look too full of pride when Ian and Sylvia, the couple who ran the agility test, told her I was better at it that their two border collies.
But I know that she was pleased that we’d braved the bad weather after all. And so was I.
