I did three days looking after the sofa destroying dachshunds. As usual they were their naughty selves. They are always up to no good but they have characters and I like that. They play a lot together, bit of rough and tumble. The older one seems to get the better of the young upstart, but it’s harmless fun. The youngster doesn’t cry out, he just takes it and dishes out his own recipe of revenge. They both want to be close up to me all the time, so there is a constant battle between them to do so.
All too soon it was time to leave them and their kind owner and move onto the next gig. But a visit to the gym had a funny moment. One of my gym friends who I see on a regular basis goes to Crete every year and we often talk about that. At this particular visit, we spoke a very limited amount of Greek. One of the physios came out of one of the consulting room and asked why we were speaking Greek? She was Greek! I think we thought she was Spanish. So we chatted about our Greek experiences, and she told us what she was doing here and so on. It was very interesting. Back to the next gig, another dog I knew, but a new house, in Sonning. He is a lovely dog, and the house is very nice. It reminded me when I used to walk a dog every day of the working week, he was an assistance dog for a lady who lived in the same village who had had a spinal stroke. The walk with me, for an hour, was his playtime, as soon as we left the house, he knew he was off duty, and when we returned he was on duty again. He had the ability to hold three tennis balls in his mouth. Once all three were safely in his mouth, he had to use his paw to knock one out of his mouth to release them all. Back to this dog, a Golden Retriever, was soon known as a shoe thief, but he loves playing in his garden, he forgets how big and heavy he is, even with me sitting down, a side swipe from him would have me falling over and then laughing. The owners who had lost shoes before they put them out of harms way, said they have seen shoes belonging to them around the village, possibly moved on by foxes who inhabit their garden.
In the village is a local community social club, or bar if you like. I had been walking past it on the dog walks. I also noticed a street food place sets up shop there two days a week. So we went along, had a fish tacos and a pint of nice beer from the club. You don’t need to be a member to go in on these two days.
This dog, likes to hold a tennis ball and a ball on a rope in his mouth at the same time. Later on during the sit , as a one off special I had the cocker spaniel I often look after with us here. The two did meet when they were both puppies. Unfortunately my plans went awry as when I tried to get the retriever into our car, he wasn’t having any of it. So the idea of walks with them and going there by car went by the wayside. So they had a play in the garden and a nice walk by the river when it had cooled down.
Sonning has this cottage called Turpins where Dick Turpins aunt lived, and he used to stop in and hide himself and his horse there so it’s said. The bridge over the river is old and made of brick and there is some Banksey type person who fits things on the bridge above the arches, there has been a Post Office post box for example. Yuri Gellar used to live here, he commissioned a huge bent spoon which he had put on a roundabout. It got taken down very quickly though. One one of the walks, along the river, after the rain on Saturday, my charge paddled in a huge puddle of water, and took a drink. It’s probably better for him than the river unfortunately. Not satisfied with this, he sat down and lay in the puddle. He came out with a very muddy bottom, needless to say he had to have a hose down and towel dry, before I let him into his house again. We went to the pub near us for an evening meal, that is the Bull. We also really like the cafe cum Deli called the Village Hamper. It’s a super friendly place, a bit like the Cosy Nook.
The river is lovely along here with overhanging trees and green banks. During the Reading festival we could hear the music as we walked along. We went all the way to the Thames Valley Business park where I worked years ago. It’s interesting to meet, fellow walkers, some with dogs, runners and people on various types of boats. On the Monday it was my first Plasma donation in Reading. The operation runs in an office block, and being a permanent site, it’s much easier for donors and staff. Everyone was really friendly, just as they are at Blood donations. I was soon seated down and being told what was going to happen. For my height and weight the target was 700ml of Plasma. To harvest this, they have to extract two litres of blood. They take an amount, the blood is spun around to separate the Plasma from the blood, after that the left overs are put back in your bloodstream and then another amount is taken. On the end of the machine is a display that shows how much progress is being made. When you are finished you stay seated until they are sure you are ok, then you get your drink and snack. I have booked another appointment in two weeks, the minimum time between donations. I should be able to rack up a good number of donations quite quickly, even if I only go once a month.
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