Wednesday 29th November 2006

Well they sure know how to live! What is the first thing you do when you get the key to a new house? Did they go round and sniff in every room? Did they go round and pee on all the strategic points of the garden? Did they work out the best place to curl up and go to sleep, the point where the sun keeps you warm but isn’t so bright as to stop you sleeping. No. Although in fairness when I suggested that last one to my master he could see the point! They spent their first afternoon cleaning and putting up curtain poles. All I can say is that they sure know how to live! It was left to me to sniff out the history of the place and investigate the garden in the traditional way.

I thought my trip to England was going to broaden my horizons and be one of excitement and fun. I did not expect to spend it being asked to move boxes or to be asked to hold screws whilst my master yielded fearsome weapons against them. I am getting to see different scenery and draw one or two conclusions about the English. They speak with an odd accent up here. In fact it is more than that they say some words in a completely different way and use other words I’ve never heard of. In fact there are times I don’t even realise they are speaking English at all. It’s a bit like playing the game where you invent a secret code by putting the first letter of the word at the end and then adding the same letter to every word. Maybe no one else plays that game. It is almost as bad as the myth that Americans speak English, I wish they would start admitting to speaking the American language instead of hijacking someone else’s but the same may be true of the people who live in the North-east of England too!