Scorchio! Or - Mollie meets the sea.

This weekend we both took Friday off so that we could have a long weekend, bliss! But now it's Monday evening already and I still haven't ironed any clothes for next week. We had a cunning plan this weekend - get stuff done Friday and today, and have fun in between. It worked!

Saturday morning, once we'd got ourselves ready and packed the car, we headed up to Tracy's parents in North Nottinghamshire, where we were greeted by an absolutely ridiculous amount of squeaking and wriggling on the part of their ageing black Labrador, Zoe. She and Mollie were so happy to see each other that they couldn't even say hello to start with, they just ran round each other in circles! We had a lovely afternoon and Mollie made sure Zoe's face was very clean, and she also thoroughly tested Tracy's parents' ball throwing abilities. Before tea, we headed out for a walk, up the village, through the next village, and back home down the canal. I have to say, we were hugely impressed with the local council - dotted along the canal were not only poo bins, but also poo bag dispensers full of bags! Fantastic - not only that they have done that but also that no-one's nicked all the bags and set fire to the bin...

And then yesterday. Clutching a scribbled set of instructions from Tracy's Dad, we headed East towards the coast, on the assurance that we'd find a large stretch of dog-friendly beach at Huttoft, hidden cunningly behind the golf course. Guess what? We did!! There were few amenities - just some loos and an ice-cream van, but there was a massive long stretch of sandy beach with loads of dogs running around.


Mollie was impressed. She ran around lots. Inevitably, we came away with three basic kinds of photo:

1) Mollie with the ball

2) One of us with the ball

3) Mollie waiting for the ball

In addition, there were the usual shots of Mollie's bottom.


At one point, Mollie stole someone's black lab, and the lab's ball. Despite our best efforts to retrieve Mollie, and the lab's best efforts to give her back, it took a while to separate the two who had apparently become fast friends and were happily swapping tennis balls.

During the course of the afternoon, Mollie became best friends with a number of dogs for a short time, and memorably managed to steal a big Golden Retriever and what I seem to remember as a staffie cross. Tracy bent down to pick up the ball and by the time she was upright again, she'd got three dogs and the owner of the spare two was running towards us shouting "Sorry! Sorry!".

We didn't mind. They were friendly dogs and that's two more 'breeds' for Mollie to cross off her dangerous list. In fact, I think she's now pretty much only scared of male dogs that are on leads - if their owners don't trust them, neither does she - sensible girl.

On the way home, behind her new dog guard and snuggled down on a fleecy blanket, Mollie pretty much slept the whole journey. When we stopped at a pub for a quick drink, she was so sleepy she practically fell out of the boot of the car. And today, she's spent more time asleep than awake. We took her swimming at Sence Valley this morning to wash off the salt. I think that finished her of...

The EzyDog harness, for those (Graham) who wish to know, arrived in the nick of time on Saturday morning. Mollie wore it while we were out on Saturday afternoon and also yesterday afternoon when we ventured out of the beach in search of sustenance. Even though she was covered in sand it didn't seem to chafe particularly, and whenever she's had it on so far but been off lead, she's run about as if she's not wearing it. We've not tried the seat belt attachment yet as we mostly take her out in Tracy's car which has a dog guard, but it looks nice and sturdy. So it's a thumbs up from us!