Slow life

We purchased Harvey, a Lakeland terrier, from a farm near Southam. “He’s been bred as a working dog rather than a show dog” said the farmer’s daughter and admitted he wasn’t going to be a looker. At only a few weeks old his shaggy rough coat was already apparent and he had outgrown his two more attractive sisters who had already been reserved. The children were not going home empty handed. “What work?” I enquired. “He’s a ratter” she said and I can vouch that he’s lived up to his breeding. He will often spend hours digging under the rabbit hutch when he smells a rat and he once caught a rat in the house. He found the rat in my daughter’s bedroom despite the fact that he is not allowed upstairs. It was an unusual rat because it didn’t have a tail and the crafty rodent had taken refuge in a wire cage. But Harvey, true to his calling, was not deterred by such a minor obstacle and shook the cage until the rat fell out and he killed it on the carpet. My daughter found the bloody corpse and ...

My dad was called Bob and he dug the garden and he carried the potatoes in his jumper.  Mum got very cross but I had a jumper just like his. My dad called me New because I was the newest of all his children. My Dad built a canoe. We went canoeing in Wales. We went canoeing in Scotland. We went canoeing in Ireland. We went canoeing in Germany. When the tent blew down my dad saved the bottle of wine. My dad walked from John O’Groats to Lands End, and again and again. My dad cycled from John O’Groats to Lands End, and again and again. My dad rode a motorbike from John O’Groats to Lands End  but the motorbike wasn’t as tough as my dad. My dad would fill the holes in my teeth. My friends didn’t have dads who could fill the holes in their teeth. When my dad had a bad tooth he pulled it out himself  in front of the bathroom mirror. He never took out any of my teeth. I went to visit my dad when he was ill. He didn’t complain,  he didn’t speak. I told him I was proud he was m...