How things change in 6 years: in that first post I told how I'd met up with Elizabeth, a fellow Cornish blogger, and spent a lovely afternoon in her company at Pencarrow House. (She it was who persuaded me to start a blog of my own) We wandered around the estate and ended our walk with coffee and cake, chatting non-stop and putting the world to rights. There were no masks; we weren't afraid of hugging and being too close to each other and we shared a car without fear of infection.
Most of my ramblings centred around outings with my dog, Zac: coastal path walks; rambles over Bodmin Moor and Dartmoor; beach walks; camping holidays; cottage holidays; visits to pretty little villages with many opportunities for photographs - and lots of photos of my garden (whether you appreciated them or not!) That came to a sudden, devastating end in August 2016 with the saddest post I've ever written. Without my lovely boy, walks just didn't appeal at all and the surgery I had that December, for a replacement knee, kept me housebound for a while, so my blog suffered.
However, life goes on, doesn't it? My leg healed and once I pulled myself together and realised I had to get active again, I thought it might be time to offer a home to a rescue dog. In mid-April 2017 I took on the long-term foster care of Benji, a Bichon Frise, supposedly 4/5 years old. But when I received his microchip documents I saw that he was actually older than that. He will be 11 years old on 1st August this year. Because he was very overweight, our first walks were slow and short; I was afraid he'd keel over if he walked too far so the challenge was to get him fitter and healthier.
Head or tail?
Gradually the length and speed of our walks increased and Benji was well and truly socialised - with people, other dogs, ponies, sheep and cattle. Rabbits, ducks, squirrels - not so much; he would prefer them on his dinner menu! He came camping with me - he enjoyed it but he had to be closely watched as, unlike Zac, he couldn't be trusted not to escape from the tent (just push the bottom of the zip and it would magically open). It was easier when, for a holiday in Hayle, West Cornwall, I booked a caravan with a verandah where he was happy to keep a watchful eye on passers-by, with the patio doors open between lounge and verandah. The caravan was very close to the beach so we spent many happy hours on there; in fact I booked the same caravan for the following year. Not so brilliant though, as it rained non-stop from the day we arrived - we sat in the car for half an hour hoping that it would ease off, but it didn't - and on day 5 I gave up, packed everything, cleaned through the caravan, handed in the keys and came home, reasoning that I might as well sit in home watching the rain as in a caravan in a flooded park.
That turned out to be our last holiday, thanks to Covid: for the following year I booked a sweet little holiday home in North Petherwick on the north coast of Cornwall, for a week in early October, but as the time drew nearer, I worried so much about how thoroughly it might have been cleaned (like - how do you clean the soft furnishings, or all the crockery, kitchen tools, cutlery, etc?) that I cancelled it, too scared to risk it.
The blog struggled on - and struggles still - through the restrictions of Covid: I have become a hermit, staying at home all the time, not going anywhere or doing anything apart from taking my car out at intervals to keep the battery charged and to ensure that the tyres don't go square through standing still.
A short time ago, I came up with the idea of converting my Berlingo car into a mini-campervan, in anticipation of freedom from the Covid restrictions.
I bought a single bed module which, when folded, fits neatly into the boot, leaving all 5 seats free for passengers but with the addition of bedding becomes the beginnings of a getaway vehicle for me and the BenjiDog.
** This is from the website of the manufacturer - my Berlingo is red. **
Now I wait with bated breath to see if we are to be allowed out, to travel, to go to campsites, to mix with other people - in other words, to have a social life again, so that all the 'gear' that is in my spare bedroom can be fitted into my 'would-be' mini campervan.
And ultimately the FREEDOM to go camping again and find fodder for my blog!
Oh and that overweight little dog is now looking better.
