An afternoon out

Today I have been out all afternoon. First we went to the Bridge Inn at Ratho where we met Ann's friends, Kay & Allison, for lunch. I was ever such a good little collie. I just lay quietly under the table and I didn't even attempt to ask anyone for little titbits.

The humans had a very nice lunch. And then they took me for a walk along the canal. And guess what?................... I was allowed to go off my lead. Quite often when we walk along the canal, I have to stay on my lead because I either do naughty things, like jumping in the canal for a splish, splash, splosh, or I do things like walking in front of cyclists and making them tipple, topple off their bikes into the canal. Actually, I've never made a cyclist tipple, topple off their bike into the canal, but Ann always worries that I might?!

We walked along the canal for half an hour and then we turned around and walked back again. And back into the pub we went, so that the humans could have coffee and hot chocolate. I just lay down in 'sensible mode' because I was a bit tired. I didn't even take any notice of another gorgeous collie that was there.  And he had proper collie ears that are always alert.  I have 'spaniel ears'!

I'm a bit tired now but I've had a lovely afternoon out.

And in other news......................... Our new car, does weird things; like telling us to change gears when we're going over speed bumps or beeping when we go more than 50mph. Why does it do this? Ann attempted to read the manual last night but it was incredibly boring has been driving for almost 40 years. She knows how to change gears. And another thing; if one is constantly looking at the dashboard to see what the latest thing is, that the 'clever car' is telling us, then surely one is not keeping one's eyes on the road at all times? It's worse than using a mobile phone when driving??? It's also got one of those things that Edinburgh buses have............... Ie, if you're at traffic lights, the engine cuts out. Something to do with 'emissions' and being environmentally friendly? Apparently as soon as you put your foot on the clutch the engine will start up again. Ann got the salesperson to switch that off because she's too scared to try that until she has someone 'techy' in the car with her. Because Ann has just bought the same model of car that she already had, she just assumed all the controls would be the same.

If it's not broken; why fix it?

The worst thing, as far as Ann is concerned, are electric windows? Now we all know that electric windows have been around for years, (and she can't actually remember the last time she had a car that didn't have electronic windows). But; what happens if you accidentally find yourself submerged in water? If you had manual windows that you wound down, you'd be able to escape out of the window (as long as you weren't too fat) and swim to safety??? And also, if it's a really hot day and the electrics fail and you find yourself locked in the car, you could die through heat exhaustion & dehydration? OK, it might not ever happen, but these are things to consider when buying new cars????

….............And on that note, we'll stop ranting on and spend the rest of the evening watching Corrie and EastEnders..................

Have a great weekend Blippers.