There were aspects of yesterday which did not go according to plan for Aristotle, Megan and my Mistress. The car was packed off on time and they set off for the NEC, but the next couple of hours were traumatic for all of them. Firstly they got stuck in traffic and my Mistress decided to leave the motorway and take another route. In all such circumstances it is wise to make sure you have a sat-nav that doesn’t have a mind of its own and which is deciding that today it got out of its box on the wrong side and doesn’t feel very helpful. Looking on the bright side, I think they got to see all four corners of Coventry.
When they got to the NEC my Mistress parked the car got out and then realised that there were two yapping terriers guarding the pitch and she would be better to park further over. It would have been better if her mobile phone hadn’t fallen out of the car before she moved. As luck would have it, she didn’t run over her phone and a nice lady saw it happen and brought it across the car park to her. I regret to say that was the best of the morning! Ok, I exaggerate, it did improve but not for some while.
My Mistress duly built the crate and put it on the trolley. She piled all her bags on top and then put Aristotle into the trolley. Then with Megan walking at her side and Aristotle barking for all he was worth they set off from the car park to the NEC. There are two underpasses you need to negotiate on the way. They involve going downhill and back up hill. Unfortunately on the first down hill there was a bit of an incident. Aristotle’s crate, with Aristotle inside, toppled off the trolley. In all the planning what my Mistress hadn’t thought of was a method to secure the crate. It fell off sideways and Aristotle landed in an ungainly heap. A lady and gentleman stopped to help. Then while the lady held Megan she panicked – Megan not the lady! And slipped out of her harness and was loose. My Mistress was beside herself. Ari, his crate and all the bags were all over the place and Megan was off the lead. She took a deep breath, called the panic stricken Megan to come and put her lead back on and then righted the crate with Ari still in it, none the worse for wear. The lady then helped keep the crate on the trolley for the rest of the journey. By the time they all got to the stand my Mistress was one very flustered person and her main mission of the morning was to buy something to secure the crate for the return trip. She bought two rope leads on condition the man could cut them in half for her so that she had four lengths of rope.
I’m pleased to report after that everything was just fine and they had a great day.
Alfie Dog with a little help from Rosemary J Kind alfie@alfiedog.me.uk
Alfie’s Diary – the Book is available at Amazon UK –https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00583ZGSA
Oh my goodness- thank goodness everyone..and indeed everything emerged unscathed…You’ll laugh about it in days/weeks/years to come…probably! Hope today goes more smoothly x