One More Sleep To Go........

I'm very excited as I'm off on my holidays tomorrow! We are going to North Wales and staying in a little fishing town not far from Portmeirion. You may have heard of it as it is famous for the china that was originally produced there.

 The building of the village began in 1925 and is based on Portofino in Italy - pretty odd for a village in Wales! For those of you who are old enough (!) it was also the setting for the1960's TV show The Prisoner starring Patrick McGoohan. Anyway enough of this history stuff!

I have been trying to get my packing done all week - it's so hard to know what to take.....

Can you see the fiver Ganny has sent for my holiday?!

I'm sure I need loads more than this. I have the essentials like my snorkel and mask and my crab line, but even so.....

Mum.... don't forget my blankets and bed and pillows....and my first aid kit and fresh wipes and my bowls and stand..... I'll just lie here and supervise shall I? What do you mean there isn't room for your stuff?

I'll leave you with a picture of Harlech Castle, which apparently we can see from our cottage garden. I expect this will be another holiday involving lots of bl**dy castles.   *sigh*

All the best everyone and I'll see you in a couple of weeks!

Nearly Wordless Wednesday 12/9

Just catching a few rays before my holiday... I don't want to look like a milk bottle on the beach. after all!

A 4 shamrock mini break awaits you!

As many of you will know, we had a Budget here in the UK last week. Pretty much, this means everything now costs more than it did before. However, at this particular Budget, much has been made of the so called "Ganny Stealth Tax" Ganny?!! This could be serious.... Put simply, the Government plans to get rid of age related tax allowances, meaning that over 4 million retirees will be worse off. Conversely Britain's highest earners have been rewarded with 5p in the pound reduction in their tax liability. That's considerably better than a poke in the eye, when you earn in excess of 150k to start with.

 So well done  Dave" We're all in this together, except my father-in-law is land owning millionaire aristocrat, so I'm not in it quite as much as you" Cameron and George "I'm alright Jack; the family firm is worth millions" Osbourne. Hmmmm... this is starting to sound like a political rant, but I am a dog. I am not political and I don't really care!

Still, If Ganny may be worse off, I must try and help. Apart from anything else she needs to be able to afford Pigs Ears and Gravy Bones and to send me a Fiver for my birthday....

Therefore today, my friends, I am here to highlight, publicise and advertise, England's newest luxury dog accommodation. Welcome to............

"Ganny's"!!

Upon arrival, you will find complimentary Schmackos in your room.

All beds have been tested for comfort...

Singles & Doubles are available....

Or if you prefer, bring your own!

Tea and biscuits are served in bed each morning. Hand feeding by Ganny is available if you can look as pathetic as this.

Meals can be served al fresco during the summer months

....Then why not enjoy as postprandial stroll in the garden?

There's a bench if you get tired....

Places to hide; bet you can't see me can you?!

.......and great bathroom facilities!

Should you require a longer walk, there is a Common directly opposite.

A comfortable living room with complimentary duvet is available for your midday snooze.

I nearly always manage to blag a new teddy, so there's every chance you can do it too!

Complimentary meals and snacks are frequently available, due to Ganny's very small appetite.

Usually these will come from Marks & Spencer, so quality is always assured...

So everyone! Come and spend your dollars and pounds with us this year! You can book on my blog, but hurry to avoid disappointment! 

I haven't actually mentioned this to Ganny yet, but she's bound to think it's a good idea.....isn't she......?

In the meantime, I'll just top up my tan........

A Bad Case of Man-Flu.....

Hello everyone. I had hoped to be telling you all about my lovely Northumberland holiday, but unfortunately, I've come home with a nasty dose of Man-Flu. Well, at least that's what Mum is calling it. Not that she thinks I'm faking it or anything, it's just that I do seem to be making the most of it......

To put it delicately (some of you may be about to eat...) I've got a bit of an upset tummy. Mummies can vouch for this as between them they had to take me outside 8 times in 6 hours overnight, in order for me to use my private bathroom (behind the hedge).

Mum says she doesn't think it's anything to worry about too much at this stage; I just need to take things easy. I have interpreted this as follows: I can sleep where I want, when I want regardless of how inconvenient it is for everyone else. The gas fire and central heating will be left on at all times. Mum will hand feed me fillet steak and coffee cake and there will be warm milk to hand. She will constantly tell me how pleased she is to be taking me outside at 2.00am in the pouring rain and force 10 gale.

Mum's interpretation: My bed will be placed under the window, out of the way. If I am cold I can have my Banky over me and the heating will not be left on all night. I will be starved for 24 hours and then given small meals of chicken, rice and scrambled eggs. I will drink only bottled water. She will try and not be grumpy when being awakened by me loudly breaking wind, but isn't making any promises..

Life can be so very cruel sometimes, or at least Mum can be. Anyway, I'm sure I'll be feeling well enough to raise my head from my pillow in the next day or so and I'll tell you all about my holiday then.

Holiday planning..

Mum says I might not have time to blog much this week as we go on holiday on Friday and I've got to help out. I think she's starting to panic. She disappeared behind a 27ft high pile of ironing three hours ago and hasn't been seen since.

 I keep hearing mutterings too.... " For God's sake, we go every year; how difficult can it be...." and " Do you really need that much stuff, you never use half of it..."  Well I do think other Mum has a point. I'm only taking my mac, my fleece and my fleece lined mac.. oh and my food, 2 bowls and stand. My bed, blanket, Mr Fog Fog, dong and ball. My lead, training lead, tin of treats, 2 towels and medical kit. Hmmmm.... moving swiftly on... :-/

I wonder if Mum thinks we might suddenly be invited to circumnavigate the globe whilst in the pub one evening and be away for a little longer than originally planned? There must be some explanation for all this stuff! Still I'm more than happy to lie on my sofa and keep out of the way, or project manage as I like to call it...

Mum has also said I'm not allowed to take the laptop away with me as we all need a proper break. That means Mum and other Mum might have to talk to each other... Blimey!! Still, there's always the Nintendo DS and the Kindle; I'd like to see Mum stop other Mum taking those with her, hehe! Perhaps there'll be a cyber-cafe in Alnwick. Do you think they'll rent out a PC to a blogging Greyhound though?

Well, I suppose I'd better go and try and find Mum... Can't see her but there are a lot of expletives coming from behind that ironing.......

Declan's Favourire Things Part 2 - Ice Cream

Uncle Flynn liked ice cream too
but he was only allowed one of them

Now don't misunderstand; I'm not allowed much of this. But when I can have a little treat, boy do I love ice cream! I'd never had it before I went to live with my humans and at first I thought it was a bit weird, but it's great! My Mum loves ice cream, she says it's one of her downfalls - the list of those is endless though!

Mum says when we go on holiday there's a lovely ice cream parlour not that far away called Morwick Dairy Ice Cream at Warkworth and if I'm a good boy we can go there and have a cornet. She says their Raspberry Pavlova is hard to beat, but being a purist, I'm a bit of a vanilla man, myself.

Generally Mum is a big big fan of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. She says the best she ever had was their Wavy Gravy involving lots of chocolate & nuts, but it was discontinued about 10 years ago and probably wasn't even sold in this country.

This is a list of mum's top ten Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream flavours:

Phish Food, Chocolate brownie, Fairly Nuts, Cherry Garcia, Caramel Chew Chew, Chunky Monkey, Cookie Dough, Fossil Fuel, Baked Alaska,New York Super Fudge Chunk.

"Ice Cream Farms" in the UK are becoming increasingly popular, so check out your local area. In the meantime I just need to convince Mum a big cornet with a chocolate flake and raspberry sauce is very similar to a gravy bone..... fat chance!!

A Dogs Thoughts On Holidays

Uncle Flynn and his black pudding birthday!

I’m really looking forward to my holidays!

My humans are taking me to Northumberland in a few weeks time. They took Flynn there a couple of times and he loved it. Hated the sea and the beach but loved the battered black pudding apparently! Mum hopes I might be a bit more confident than he was about the sea, but I won’t be able to be let off my lead this time, Mum can’t trust me yet! Greyhounds should never be put on extending leads as we are way too strong and fast. I’m still pretty young and fit and can get close to 40mph in three strides. I could break my neck and Mum would have a dislocated shoulder, or worse. Mum’s bought a training lead that she can wear draped over the shoulder and is hands-free, which will give security and me a bit of freedom. I’ve told her to pack her wellies and plan on some paddling!

Mum says there’s a great Sunday market at Amble where you can buy fresh fish from the quayside and she also got the best dog bed Flynn ever had from there too! Yeah well.. I bet it wasn’t as good as my bed; it’s huge! Mum keeps muttering about needing to build an extension to put it in, but she is prone to exaggeration. We do like to stretch out, do us Greyhounds and as you know, we really like to sleep. I’ve told Mum, if she doesn’t want to lose the couch completely, she’d better buy a spare whilst we’re there..