A day of 'firsts'

Busy, busy, busy. We've done lots today.

First thing this morning I went for a walk through the Hermitage. It was nice and cool and I did lots of wallowing in the burn but unfortunately there wasn't enough water for me to swim. Boohoo. I met another little collie and we played and played for ages but both our humans were very conscious of the fact that the pavements would be heating up and they wanted to get us home before they were hot enough to burn our paws. Anyway I had a great play between 8-9.30am so I was quite happy to snooze for the rest of the day.

It was too hot for basking on the balcony so Ann sorted out a load of bills that she had to pay, including a rather large tax bill. That most definitely is a first. She had actually made a note in her paper diary that it needed to be paid by the end of the month.

And then guess what happened?................... Ann said, 'Trixie, I'm going out. Go in your bed.' She put some treats into my pink snake for me, switched on the radio (because she always leaves me home alone with the radio on) and off she went for her first look around the new 'St James Quarter'. It's Edinburgh's newest shopping centre, if anyone is interested. It was OK but a lot of the units still aren't occupied and the shops that are there, don't yet have their changing rooms open. Ann could RANT forever about the fact that fitting rooms aren't open anywhere apart from M&S and when you ask staff when they will be opening; they spout some rubbish about waiting for government guidance? Does that mean that M&S are acting illegally then???

Coming back out into the sunshine in temps hitting almost 30C Ann went into a 'Costa Coffee' and bought a 'mint chocolate chip cooler' pretty much what she would have called a milk shake in the olden days. Lol! Going into a 'Costa's' was definitely a first for her. She doesn't normally buy coffee when out cos it's always too strong for her.

Then she went to do a 'Meet & Greet'. Visitors were early. They'd arrived by train so that was a 'first'. Visitors who arrive by train are inevitably late.

When she got home I got bundled into the car and we picked up our friend Kay because she was going to show us a good place to get our car washed. While we were in Cornwall, our car got absolutely covered in seagull poo. And we mean covered. It was like the whole of the St Ives seagull population had had diarrhoea while we were there??!! Ann had hoped that her nephew would wash it for her at the weekend and had offered him £20 but he didn't want to. He's got a proper job now so we're guessing he doesn't need the money. Anyway, Ann hasn't been to a car wash since 1988 so she was a bit anxious about going to one alone. For all of you Edinburgh BLIP followers, Kay took us to a fabulous car wash place on Ferry Road which is run by Polish people. £8.50 and the car has never looked so clean since the day we bought it.

By then it was about 4.30pm so Ann & Kay took me down to Silverknowles for an hour or so to have a walk. There was a nice breeze so it wasn't too hot for me.

After that, the humans (& me obv) went to 'Porto & Fi' for tea. Another first for us because we've never been there. Way back in March, when it was Ann's Birthday and we were in lockdown, Kay said she would take her out for tea. Yay! So today was Ann's birthday tea. Both Ann & Kay had fish goujons and chips and both of them gave me a little bit of fish. Yum!



Ann drove Kay home and we spent half an hour in the garden with Kay's dad, Fred, in this BLIP. I found a ball in Kays garden. And then Kay gave Fred a thrower so he threw the ball for me a lot of times. That was probably a 'first' for Kay's dad. He's in his late 80s so he's probably going to have a sore arm tomorrow.

….................And now we're home. And it's still mega hot. And I'm just about to go out for my bedtime wee. And then it will be bedtime.

Goodnight. xxx