Woman’s Day – not the magazine

Due to a Nicktor Night, I was a bit tired today. But it was worth it. Yesterday the final chapter of the Saw franchise was released as a DVD and Nicktor bought it. Oh, with hearts a flutter, we waited for everything to be revealed; for the few things that needed clarification to be clarified. Sadly, in some respects, the film failed to deliver. It seems that the maker had lost the original intention of the movies somewhere along the line.

Instead of the main character being a force for good over evil, dispensing his own twisted sense of justice, this final chapter was about gratuitous traps and far from ingenious games. It almost redeemed itself with the long awaited return of the doctor from film 1, but this really wasn’t enough. Still, we saw it, we (sort of) enjoyed it and maybe, one day, we’ll have a Saw marathon and watch all of them back to back.

And so, tired and slightly disappointed, I attacked the day with all the va-va-va-voom of a sponge. After a lovely long chat with mum and dad, I headed into town for the shopping under a glorious blue sky. I saw on Breakfast this morning that this winter just gone had only 60% of the normal average amount of sunshine. What this means is that the dull part of the year was actually 40% greyer. I’m sure Mirinda will agree.

But there was no grey today. Spring has sprung with our weird daffodils and life is returning to the world that is Surrey. Mind you, the chap with a cloth cap who I see most mornings walking his dog (it used to be two dogs but he’s now down to one and I don’t have the heart to ask what happened to the other one) claimed yesterday and today were spring and summer rolled into two days and that was it for this year. Miserable sod!

So I shopped and had my latte at Starbucks and then strolled slowly home. I took a few photos, fully intending them to be blips, like this one, which I thought was very descriptive:

The sign at the end of Long Garden Walk in glorious perspective

But, as is often the case, I was surprised by a chance happening. While I was working in the garden, Carmen hopped up onto the kneeling frame we have and sat on it, looking a bit uncomfortable. It made me laugh out loud and, fortunately I had my camera to hand for the shot. You can see it here. It might look a bit posed, but honestly it wasn’t and I have no idea why she did it.

Anyway, having shopped and observed the big Georgian house with it’s Christmas lights still installed, (presumably because they were a bugger to put up) I headed for home.

Late (or early) Christmas lights in Castle Street

Arriving home I decided to head into the garden for a bit of replanting action. I was rigorously instructed in the whats and wheres of what to move and why and I applied this knowledge to my little fork and nimble fingers. This completed (it took me ages) I had a lovely lunch (ham and sheep cheese baguette) then took the girls up to the park. There were lots of dogs about including a pair of hilarious cocker-poos.

One was caramel, the other black and they were with the same couple, who were strolling along ignoring them. This didn’t matter because they were having a fun old time without any human intervention. When I first spotted them, the black one had a good size stick in his teeth and was running around, proudly flashing it about. The caramel one clearly wanted this stick and they raced around, rolling and tumbling, jumping and wrestling but the black one wouldn’t give it up.

Finally the black one sat down and started having a good chew and I watched as the caramel one spotted his chance. He tried for the stick but the black one was too fast. He leapt to his feet, tail wagging like a fool, almost laughing at the caramel one who looked annoyed. This annoyance changed to a sly smile as he spotted another stick in the grass and pounced on it, throwing it in the air and having a wonderful time with it.

The black one stopped wagging his tail for a bit as he watched and slowly his mind ticked over. After a few seconds he dropped the stick and raced over to wrestle the new stick out of caramel’s mouth. He put up a bit of a fight but basically let the black one have it easily. The caramel one then raced over to the original stick and bounced onto it in triumph, holding it aloft and almost laughing at the foolishness of his black chum.

The black one was devastated to fall for such a school boy error. He dropped the new stick without a moments hesitation and went in pursuit of the caramel cocker-poo. My last sight of them was their tails wagging furiously as the black one chased his mate over a hill. My two ignored the entire thing, being far more interested in chasing crows. An altogether unfruitful past-time in which they indulge rarely but always unsuccessfully.

So we traipsed right around the park, stopping for a few snaps on the way…

Day-z pokes her tongue out at me

…before returning to the house for more gardening and cleaning of the patio furniture, which sorely needed it. It looks like new now! Amazing how much better the garden looks just by scrapping the moss off the patio furniture.

And now I am totally exhausted, sitting here typing like a man possessed. Bed will be very welcome tonight.