Customs?

Alice's new coat has arrived , according to a card ( and not the much longed for parcel ) through the door whilst I was drying my hair this morning .... how come I always hear the people demanding money , but not those delivering goodies ?
But it has been quarantined by the post office who have taken it away and will not bring it back until I pay the £ 13 plus they tell me it owes in Customs Dues . How does this work ? If I order something from the States , do I have to pay the Post Office ?
The thing that really gets to me is the thought of that long snaking queue going from the post office counter all round the car park twice and back ... oh well thats tomorrow .
And then Alice will have her fleece .
Roll on snow and ice ?

Ms CatCalls the actress .....

I've convinced myself that even with my red nose and bulging and streaming eyes I look like an actress . Or actor ? Isnt there a backlash against the word actress ? I digress .

I pulled up at the barrier of the premises of the building I was visiting this morning to have a conversation about some freelance work ( fostering and therapy , rather than acting , I should add ) , and was waved through without having to leave my car to enter the security guard 's hut as is the norm to explain my business . I should explain that the fostering project I was visiting shares the premises of a local tv company ( anyone out there heard of Robson Green ? ) .

I feel fairly certain the guy waved me kindly through because it was raining and he could see I had just washed ( and straightened , no less ) my hair , but when I arrived at the project and they expressed surprise that no one had phoned ahead to inform them of my imminent arrival , we all agreed it must have been because he mistook me for someone famous .

Obviously incognito , judging by the state of my car , which looked very grubby and somehow vague parked beside the altogether sharper looking four by fours , little mini cooper things with personalised plates and tinted windows , and the occasional advertising vehicle ( fostering ) .
Maybe its time we had a car wash .

not much of anything

No Blogging for days , in fact on reflection not much of anything for days .... nothing except coughing , blowing the nose , taking sudafed and headache pills in various strengths and juggling between this one and that one , trying to work out is this a migraine or a sinus pain or a rebound headache or blah blah .... its boring which is why I wasn't blogging .



And apart from that trying hard to keep going at the Day Job , and just about managing , ....



Dogs seem to have an inbuilt sense of when its raining . Alice has two mornings running scampered to the top of the stairs( where the stair gate stops her coming any further to give the cats some privacy ) to raise me as usual at five thirty am , for me to stumble down pulling on the thickest bathrobe as I go , tripping over cats on the stairs , to find she has already lemonaded on the sitting room carpet ... rather than go out into the drizzling rain in the yard . pah ! !

I have several comments , if she has to do this , why not at least let me sleep on , so that at least I get the benefit of a slight lie in ( she likes her breakfast at six anyway ) .....

furthermore if she really cant hang on , or cant bear to go out , why not widdle on the wood floor . At least two thirds of the floor area downstairs is wood , with two carpeted areas , and where does she chose ? Double Pah !



Ah , but when I give her a Look , she looks so chastened ....and draws herself up very small as if to say , " I know but look at me , I'm a teeny little greyhound really . "



And later , this afternoon , after work when I took her to the beach and she played Silly Dog , fleeing after nothing and crashing into me and wagging that big skinny tail , she looked as if she was saying where would you be without your big daft greyhound .

And shes right really .

I can still look ....

Though I'm not buying clothes , it still being only twelve days into January and thus nowhere near the end of my New Year s Resolution , I can still look . This blissful coat , not at all my usual style , caught my eye ....Duffle Coat from Celtic Sheepskin

Miserable Git

Am I the only one finding it hard to write at the minute . Harder and harder in fact , to write , to do anything ? I didn't even manage Alice's walk this morning . The hacking cough , which gets worse when I'm upright and outside in the cold ( conversely hardly troubles me at all when lying flat watching a dvd or in the warm bed , preferably with a paper or a book ) , the difficulty I had dragging myself back up the hundred odd steps off the beach up the cliff side yesterday at nine am when the temperature was five degrees higher , and then D saying to me " you go back to bed , I ll take Alice out " , all came together in a wonderful conspiracy to get me back up those stairs .
Later in the day I vacillated between the various plans we had considered and eventually yes , the bed won . Yet even when D brought me a second newspaper and a kit kat , I couldn't be shaken out of my Miserable Git feelings . Largely underpinned by fear ( I fear ) as the cough bears a striking resemblance to the one of last Winter which succeeded in breaking four of my ribs ( How did it do that ? Do I have an underlying condition like osteoporosis ? These are thoughts that flash through my mind but seem not to trouble the medics who have examined my medical records and x ray results . Thus was it ever ? ) and threatening my job in the process. Coupled with the fact that there has not been a day since New Year's Day when I havent had a headache , albeit most of them chased with pills and tablets , but disheartening non the less .

I've concluded that staying in bed never did anything to lift the mood , and am now plotting ways to raise the spirits .
I have a feeling that until this streaming cold and cough move on , and the headache gives up the ghost , the Miserable Git may take some shaking off .

The seal pup has gone from the beach ...

... but look at me , I'm quite cute here parked up on the sofa . The seal pup CatCalls: Seal pup on the beach , King Edward's Bay Tynemouth was gone yesterday and none of the local news reports mentions it so we assume it went safely back into the sea , though maybe thats just us and wishful thinking .

Seal pup on the beach , King Edward's Bay Tynemouth

We have a very perceptive greyhound . The beach was deserted this morning . This usually means that after a shifty look around when Alice ascertains that all 's clear and there are no Big Nasty Dogs out there just itching to get at her and bite off her head ( or worse ) , she will happily flee after balls , seaweed or all manner of things thrown for her ( though admittedly she doesnt really do Fetching yet , though occasionally she will shock us by landing at our feet complete with ball , drop it at our feet and sit waiting for a reward . She maybe has played with a ball at some stage .....

I digress. The sea was calm , the tide far out . I was streaming with cold and coughing to boot so had left the camera behind ( this becomes relevant later ) , but we had a great walk . the temperature was recorded as three degrees but with no wind , it was considerably warmer than yesterday , or the day before .

But ... there was something not right with Alice and as we headed up towards the hundred and odd steps to leave the beach , D commented that something was not right , that she was not relaxed . She then headed off over in the direction of what looked like a washed up plastic bag or a pile of debris washed ashore .

As I walked closer I felt my heart start to sink , as the thing began to take on some sort of shape . Way too big to be a body .... but ..... there was something about it . A dead dog maybe . ? Alice was getting closer and keener . And as I looked at it I saw it move , then realise a head was trying to raise itself . Worst nightmare , the body of a baby or child washed up by the waves ? I shouted to D " its moving " and as we ran closer , relief and wonder ..... a baby seal .

As Alice poked it tail end with her nose it was trying to raise its head to look round at her . D approached it and it made a baby snarling noise at him , showing its teeth .

We stared in amazement , wondering what next ? It loooked fit and healthy but a long way from the water 's edge . As we wondered what to do , call the vet , the coastguard , the RSPCA , a car appeared on the cliff tops and drove as far as it could down the ramps towards the sea , lights flashing . Oh Joy ... someone else , hopefully someone who had been called out already and would know what to do .

A man appeared and explained he was a marine mammal medic , was keeping an eye on it and the pup was fine . It had been examined , was fit fat and well , had taken a pounding probably in the high seas overnight and was now resting and sleeping on the beach . Once rested it would make its way back into the sea and all would be well . He was clearly posted to prevent people like us , well meaning but possibly trying to move it and upsetting it in the process .

We were thrilled to see such a beautiful baby at such close proximity . The one day of all days I had picked the camera up then put it down again . D had his phone camera but ....the quality is less . Its fur was indescribable . Various shades of grey , soft and thick . The baby looked warm and soft and very much like a baby . Seals I've seen before have looked sleak and shiny , their fur like rubber wet suits .

The delights of living by the sea , turning out to walk a greyhound on a damp morning in January . You can't beat it .