Getting out in the evening for a plod round the village was remarkably sociable. Sarah said hello to five people as we mooched around; we walked through the little churchyard, which looked glorious, with its shortcut grass and wildflowers. And the Kites whispered to their babies as we walked. It was serendipitous to be passing the church at that moment in time. It was as though the kites were the choir.

And then today we went and met up with my old friend Sally. She is now fit and well once again and was wonderfully excited to see me. She pounced and bounced around in the lane in such a cheerful way, she nearly knocked me off my feet! Sally had brought her mum, Mandy, with her and her dog cousin, Frodo. I’ve met him before and wasn’t best pleased to begin with as last time they’d ganged up on me only this time, I played with Frodo whilst Sally sniffed about and then I felt bad so played nicely with them both.

The farmer has taken away the corn from the field now and it was sharp and spiky on my little legs but I soon hopped over the stubble, although Sarah had to carry me in places as those nasty burr thistle things are all over the place and they hurt like heck! They get caught in my tail and between my toes, and I hate them.

One lap round the field took us to the cool of the woods where we bumped into a lady walking five dogs in one go! Can you believe it? Five dogs, two were on leads, but the rest were running loose. I guess it seemed like there were more dogs than there really were, but we were eight in total and I was the smallest. I would say I didn’t like it much, but I loved it and sniffed the nether regions of all of my new friends one by one… except the two on the leads as they growled at me when I went near them.

Back in the field and onwards towards the car, I had a moment which endeared me more to both Sarah and Mandy, although Sally and Frodo had no interest in my pleasure. At the edge of the field, where the bits of straw lay thick and warm with the sun, I found a fox poop! And it was fresh! It was pretty squishy and very smelly. I had the most delicious roll in it. I got it into my fur and into my harness... pretty much everywhere. At the car, Sarah washed me off with water from a bottle and we drove home in silence.

I then had to suffer the indignity of being tied up to the outside tap and bathed, but the emergency wash by the side of the car had removed most of the gunge. The water was warm and smelled of blueberries as Sarah shampooed me off; I went into a bit of a trance. It was relaxing just feeling her washing and rubbing away. She gave me a quick blast with the old Hoof-poof hairdryer thingy and, before long, I was clean and dry once more. I could smell my spinach cooking, so knew tea wasn’t very far away, and all was well. Sarah’s nostrils may have been full, but so was my heart. It has been a glorious afternoon and now, with a full belly and a delicious cape of contentment across my back, I shall doze for an hour or two on the back of the sofa, til dinner time at least.