Archie has an adventure

After a slight over-indulgence of bubbles last night, I did not feel well this morning - you'd think I would have learned by now -  but fortunately this hangover happened between 3am and 5am, so by the time Archie started his 'Time to get up, Mum,' routine at 9am - he rests his head on my face - I had come right. Phew!

We set off on an adventure with our new Senior Railcards (saved about £1:30). The beach at North Berwick was the chosen destination, only half an hour away. Archie hasn't been on a train before (been on a tram) and when it started moving and shoogling about and squeaking, he sat up, whimpered a bit, and looked quite concerned, causing some amusement for the people nearby. But he soon settled down.

North Berwick is a very dog friendly town - dogs galore. Signs about picking up dog poo on every lamppost, and I didn't see any (dog poo). Lots of folk stopped to pat Archie and have a chat (with us).

We had a wander along the beach and Archie went crazy. Lots of dogs. Lots of seaweed to drag around, while being careful to keep his feet out of the waves. There was even a sandcastle to wreck!

We then located the rather groovy Steampunk Cafe, and arranged to meet there in an hour. JR went off shopping (she is most impressed with the NB shops!) while Archie and I returned to the beach. We walked right along, meeting loads of dogs and having a great time.

Until...

On the way back...

He found a carcass of a long dead seagull...

And he took off, back along the beach from whence we'd come, with the wing flapping grotesquely...

The 'LEAVE IT!'' command, which works quite well with rubbish on the pavement on our round the block walks, had NO EFFECT whatsoever. He kept just out of my reach, as he couldn't go fast, so cumbersome was his disgusting baggage. It occurred to me after a mile or so staggering along the beach, in my desperation, that we could well go along the coast like that all the way back to Edinburgh.

I was about to begin shouting at able bodied folk coming the other way to GRAB HIM! when he eventually stopped to change his grip, and I pounced fell upon him and prised his little jaws apart. He was not happy. Neither was I.

A terrific coffee and cake in the dog friendly Steampunk, then back home on the train. This time he was quite relaxed and indeed slept the whole way. Probably dreaming of that delicious treat he'd been deprived of...)