Well by the time my mistress did open her presents and cards yesterday all I can say is there are a lot of people out there that know her very well. There was a good doggie theme running through things, together with shoes books and teddy bears. I was torn as to whether I liked one of the dog birthday cards or the ‘doggy bank’ best. A doggy bank is of course a dog shaped piggy bank. It is a savings scheme for people with better taste. Sadly, one of the presents from my master was not associated with better taste. My mistress looked somewhat perplexed about why she might want a toilet roll with 42 repeated throughout and odd slogans all in Flemish. The fact that she can get the gist of the slogans only seems to make it worse. Helpfully my master suggested she should put it in the bathroom she uses the most, or not! I am excited about her real present from my master, although it isn’t here yet. It is a ‘cow hide’ rug. In this instance being the hide, I am sincerely glad it isn’t dog! Apparently it is going by the chair that my mistress likes to sit in to read. It means I can now choose between sitting on her or sitting on the floor next to her, without having to sit on the cold stone floor. Judging by the number of books she has to read, I think she might be sitting there for rather a lot of time.
Of course, my mistress’s birthday isn’t the only thing going on, the moles are still steadily working their way across the lawn and there has been a man with a pressure cleaner getting the mud from between the stones on the drive. I’m actually less happy about him than I am about the moles as he keeps leaving the gates open, so I am being shut in the house ‘for my own good’. What’s wrong with wanting to go for a walk on my own, that’s what I say!