It is really very strange showing someone round the house you’ve been living in for the last two years. We’ve been very happy and except for her very early puppyhood, Shadow knows no different. I found myself apologising for the mess and the boxes of packing and telling them it really was a very nice house. I almost asked if I could still visit it occasionally if they moved in, just to keep the smell of it fresh in my mind. They seemed more interested in the size of the rooms but I wanted to tell them all the important things, like if you lie on the turning point on the stairs you can find a nice warm sunny patch and watch out of the windows in the front door at what’s going on outside. I thought it was important to tell them that the sheep come to stay twice a year and you can hear dogs barking across quite a wide area, although only faintly. My Mistress was telling them things like how much oil we get through to heat the house and what facilities there are in the village. At that point I jumped up and down and said “Don’t forget dog training.” It’s important to give them a rounded view. I don’t know whether they actually have a dog yet, but if you’re going to live in the countryside you really do need one.
I am please to report that there are gaps between each plank of wood on our new fence. You may not understand how important that is to a dog or small child, but it means you can see what is going on in neighbouring gardens. For a small child this is just because they are nosey, for a dog it is so they know what it is they are actually barking at. My Mistress has sat us down and explained that it isn’t polite to bark at the neighbours and we have taken her comments into consideration but made no promises that we will go along with her way of thinking.