Wednesday 16th November 2016 – ‘Come on, Alfie.’

That’s what my Mistress was shouting at me as I swam up and down the pool yesterday. ‘Come on, Alfie.’ That and threatening if I didn’t buck my ideas up she may as well bring Aristotle. Now, I know it was only for my benefit, but sometimes that’s not what you think and I wasn’t best pleased. You see, the thing is, I’ve grown to like my outings to swimming. My back legs haven’t been so good recently and quite honestly they ache already, so of course I didn’t want to use them. However, as my Mistress pointed out that was part of the reason I was there in the first place, to keep them good and strong. Apparently, carrying them like the wheels of an aircraft in flight is not going to help. So there I was, going up and down the pool like a speeding bullet. Maybe that’s not the right analogy as I don’t suppose a bullet would lollop in the water in quite the same way I was doing on cornering. I did my best. Oh boy did my legs ache afterwards. I guess it really is for my own good as I have struggled a couple of times with the stairs in the last week and I did find jumping into the car a little harder. It’s mainly mornings with the stairs. Once I’ve got going I’m fine. Anyway, I’ve been told I have to work harder and rather than miss out on my swimming, then work harder I will. I’ll show her I’m not beaten yet, not physically anyway. Mentally I find the world a bit of a challenge. They made me try to swim in the other direction to turn so I’d use my left leg more, but just that little change made me panic, so they reassured me and we went back to normal. I stood by the closed door when my Mistress had opened the other one too because I’m supposed to be on her left. I wish she wouldn’t change anything, it makes it all too hard to understand now.

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