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Guess what? I’ve found a four-legged creature that Shelby doesn’t chase!
Fair enough, she had a little sniff round it – but no barking and savagery.
Other than that highlight, I’ve finally got round to fencing in the back-garden, so the place is Shelby proof now. It’s nice for her to be able to run around a bit without a lead on.
The Pikey/Gucci vs Shelby battle is calming down too now. Pikey can wander into the room (and does) when Shelby is in there, and there’s no hassle. Gucci kind-of does, but isn’t quite so keen as Pikey.
Pikey clearly considers Shelby a pleb, but we could have a happy family this time next month.
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Ξ September 24th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Shelby |
She started the day well; Shelby, after getting covered in mud, was happy to have Jules give her a bath – with no fuss whatsoever. Then, at lunchtime, Jules took her for the usual stroll to let off steam.
And that’s where it all went a little bit wrong!
The Shelbster saw another dog as Jules was getting her out of the car. Unbeknowst to Jules, she’d obviously not done the Shelberator’s collar up tightly enough after her bath and the ballistic anti-four-legged-creature was off on intercept. Unfortunately, said old soppy Labrador was well and truly decked by asbo-Shelby. Oh dear.
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…. or the goings on of a weekend in Henley.
After remembering Holly’s birthday on Friday, I was taking Shelby for her morning walk on Saturday – route saved through Nokia Sports Tracker on the N95 – when I came across a chav‘s bag that had been dumped in the bushes. Ever the decent citizen – and because it felt pretty heavy – I had a look to see what was inside in case it was the proceeds of a burglary or some such. Along with the usual drug taking and house breaking parephenalia (I kid thee not) that you would find in a bag dumped by some Hoody Half-wit, I was over the moon to discover an eight-inch kinfe and a can of lighter gas for sniffing. The brainless dork had also managed to leave his phone and a letter with his name and address on it in there – so that’s all with Henley police now.
Other than that we had a lovely potter around South Oxfordshire yesterday. The intention was to visit Holly’s grave, pop into the Crazy Bear for a drink, grab a bite to eat and then take Shelby for a wander along the Thames;
Holly bit – sorted. Crazy Bear – sorted. Here, though, the cunning plan of a bite to eat started to fall a bit flat. It’s sunny, we’ve got a roast tonight so just wanted a sarnie. That’s not too much to ask is it? Well, the Crazy Bear was only doing “Sunday dinner in the marquee” – not an option with Jenny, Shelby and me looking like I’d just emerged from the Australian bush. So, quick trip down memory lane and let’s try Home Sweet Home in Roke. They always used to have a huge menu. Nope! Lah-di-dah menu and clearly changed hands.
Next stop the Six Bells in Warborough (sorry about their web-site, it’s crap) – and the same again. Sunday lunch or nothing.
Next Dorchester-on-Thames (where we intended to do our walk anyway) – first pub (can’t remember it’s name) kitchen closed because they’re too busy, second (The George) lah-di-dah again. Finally, I spotted the last pub/hotlel in the village and tried them. Result! The White Hart was a hell of a find. Lovely menu, lovely food, lovely prices and a “garden” to sit in. Thoroughly recommended.
Sadly, after all our driving around looking for somewhere to eat, we didn’t have time for the walk – but we’ll get that sorted soon.
Other news. The washing machine has died! Stone dead. After a mere five thousand, seven hundred washes (ahem) it’s gone to meet it’s maker. Looks like Jules is getting an early Christmas present!
You’re probably wondering what the three Ws is all about. I knew this chap once and had the pleasure of going out for a drink with him and a couple of mates to Reading one night. I think he was a postman, but harboured Walter Mitty fantasies of being in the Special Forces. As we walked to the train station, he uttered the immortal words “Never set off on a night out without the three Ws”
Impressed by this wisdom and not having a clue what he was talking about we asked.
Reaching into the back of his trousers, he pulled out the largest knife I’ve ever seen in my life ….
“Wallet. Watch. Weapon”
I’ve not been drinking with him since.
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Ξ September 22nd, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Shelby |
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Don’t ask me why, but for some reason the phone hasn’t exported the last third of the walk – down Lambridge Wood Road, up the Fair Mile and cutting up to Luker Avenue just after Bowling Court.
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Sunshine over England! Surely not. The weather was so nice that we had balloons over Henley.
We had planned to go to the Henley Show on Saturday but, at twenty-five quid to get in and being a totally target-rich environment for Shelby, we went for a plod along the river instead. I managed to “Harvest” the lawns – first time for about a month, so you can imagine what they were like.
I’m not saying they were in need of it, but I managed to find a couple of Japanese snipers in there who didn’t know the war was over.
Sunday was similarly lazy – walking, mowing the lawns again. In fact, I’ve worked out that in the week we’ve had Shelby, I’ve done the equivalent of walking to Portsmouth – most of it at six in the morning.
Talking of the Shelbinator, the tally of things chased now includes, rats, geese, dogs (including an Irish Wolfhound), cats, rabbits, pheasants, squirrels and a horse. Yes, that’s right. A horse. Off the lead in the near future?
I think not!
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Beware folks! After sifting through the visitor logs today, I was surprised to see a hit from someone searching for “Bed Shops R Us”.
Visiting the site and looking at the source behind it, I was surprised (as in not really) to see that the contact email is non other than info@bestchoicefurniture.co.uk
(I’ve hot-linked that so that the spam-bots can have a play)
So, beware. It looks like the empire of shoddy bedding is growing.
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Ξ September 10th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Shelby |
Shelby and I are getting fit. Up at six, three mile walk, shower, sort kids, feed dog, school run, work, school run, work, back home, sort kids, cook and clean with Jules, dinner, Shelby for a couple of miles and then bed.
I’m sure that we used to have a life pre-dog.
On the brighter side, despite her now having chased cats, dogs, squirrels, rabbits, rodents and a deer – the cats seem to have accepted the fact that Shelby is staying. They have the kitchen and utility room in the day and Shelby has the lounge at night. What a happy household!
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Ξ September 8th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Shelby |
As I was browsing t’internet yesterday an email popped through – a regular newsletter from Binfield Dog Rescue. As I flicked through the new dogs that they have I noticed a couple of entries that don’t normally exist – “OK with cats”.
They referred to a couple of terrier crosses – Teddy and Shelby. I sneaked Jules over to show her and within seconds we had bundled the Jenster into the car and were on our way to Binfield.
Teddy was a non-starter, keen on biting kids, so we took Shelby out for a walk. She’s three years-old, a mixture of Jack Russell, Corgi and a couple of other terriers and wonderfully behaved – almost.
To cut a long story short, we bought her. We had to nip into Reading, so took her with us. The lady at Binfield has warned us that she wasn’t too keen on other dogs, so it sho
uldn’t have come as a surprise to Jules (who was holding her whilst I was in a shop) when she fastened her teeth round the nose of an Alsatian. Ah! Things weren’t looking too clever for getting her home and meeting the cats.
Still, on with the show and off home and, as expected, Shelby lived up to her reputation of “if it’s got four legs, then it’s fair game”. So we’re now living in an apartheid house – cats in kitchen and utility room in the day, Shelby in the lounge at night.
One other thing that we discovered is that Shelby can fit through the cat flap!
Here are a few more piccies of her.
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It turned up!
Against all the odds, at half one on Saturday afternoon, the delivery driver called to say he was about half an hour away. A couple of hours later (courtesy of the assembly “instructions” that just have one diagram – which is of the bed assembled) the girls have a new bed.
So, all in all, do I recommend Best Choice Furniture?
No way on earth. Avoid at all costs.
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God, it’s hard work isn’t it.
From 15:45, I’ve made 62 calls to their office, of which four weren’t engaged. Of the four that weren’t engaged, I sat in a queue until, when getting through, being cut off. Perserverance though, is the key.
I finally got through to another cheery Northern lady who, after putting me on hold to discuss the matter with her “manager”, is able to confirm that the bed will turn up “some time tomorrow”, and that the delivery driver will call me to confirm.
In the words of the youth today – “yeah right”.
Their office is open from ten till four tomorrow though so, at three o’clock, I can start the process of calling them to find out where the bed is.
On another note, you’ll be pleased to know that the site is generating loads of traffic for Google searches on “Best Choice Furniture” – so at least other people are being prevented from having anything to do with these cowboys.
Tune in tomorrow ……. will the bed be here?!
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