Dog-proof? No such thing.

Lampshade, what lampshade?

The doggie lampshade. Scientifically designed to securely fix to their necks and stop dogs chewing and licking their stitches. D the dog chewed his lampshade, escaped it, and chewed it. Within minutes of the anaesthetic wearing off.

Fourteen days of no running, jumping, excitement or anything. He’s had about fourteen minutes, before deciding that that’s quite enough of the boring recuperation and recovery and it’s time to get right back to full-on normal. D the Dog’s normal is pretty damn full-on.

The sedatives? Well, they’re lightweight, herbal things rather than elephant-stoppers. They’ve not touched him. We may as well be giving him placebos, or speed.

What are the vets thinking of? Do they not undertake any animal behaviour training? Is D the Dog so far off the scale?

If you can’t keep the mouth from the stitches, you have to keep the stitches from the mouth. So last night he was wearing a pair of MM’s old boxer shorts (with an additional opening provided for the tail), which, along with the blue ankle-sock resembling bandages around where his dewclaws used to be, were not a good look.

St Cyprian’s School…

…is a great place to play cricket. It’s changed:

Some of the buildings pictured aren’t there any more.

George Orwell went there, as Eric Blair.

Phew, what a scorcher

I found a recipe from the Hunan province of China, where the chilli features in almost all the recipes. Finely chop chillies and layer them with salt in a jar or a plastic box, leave it all to steep in the fridge for a week or two, then use for chilli heat and salt flavours.

So. How hot can it be? Just chillies and salt. I bunged too much into the curry I had and found my face streaming: nose, eyes, sweat. The only part not overheating was my ears.