Here’s some pictures I took in the lovely snow this last week.
In Sewer Ants
First things first. I love my dog. He is wonderful company, very playful and more than a little crazy. He doesn’t necessarily do as he is told but he fits in well to my family.
The renewal notice for his insurance came through about a week ago and the yearly premium has changed from GBP 400 to GBP 640. This was apparently due to increasing vet’s costs and his age being more of a concern. The whole reason I got the dog insured was to save on vet’s bills. Also, he’s only six years old and so has some way to go before he takes his final walk. A GBP 20 a month increase, or more than 50% increase, seems a little high.
I went to a price comparison website to see what other offers I could get and there were companies willing to insure him for last year’s rates but they would not cover pre-existing conditions. Unfortunately for us, George has had a few fits over the couple of years and should this become more of a problem than it is currently then a new insurer would not cover that cost. Bugger.
I phoned my current company and they said they could reduce the level of cover to a lower premium which sounded nice, but it would be the same as taking out new insurance and so pre-existing problems would, again, not be covered. Double Bugger.
It would appear that I am stuck with these ludicrous price increases for the insurance for my dog. It would, in all honesty, be cheaper to buy a new dog each year than pay my new premiums!
Apologies to Terry Pratchet for the title of this communication.
A Walk In The Park
Such a lovely morning spent walking the dog and children in Cobtree Park. The various tree species make it such a wonderful place. #1 loved it, I think #2 did too. WW had a good time.
Keeping Watch
Here’s the dog keeping watch over my sons playing in the garden.
Local Names
When ww and I talk about routes for walking the dog we give names to parts of local footpaths so we can say the name rather than give a six figure grid reference. Here’s a snip of Google Earth with some arrows pointing at vague features.
A – Sports Field
B – Across middle field
C – George Corner (it’s where our dog did his first “on walk” poo)
D – Bushy Bushey Wood
E – Solar Farm Path
F – Rotary Hill
G – Cock Corner (there’s a graffiti picture of a penis)
H – Burham Route Road Return
I – Burham Route Field Return
J – Burham Route Path
K – School Path
L – Middle Vineyard
M – Vineyard Hill
N – Sheep Path
O – Aylesford Corner
P – George Gate (The dog once ran so fast he couldn’t stop at the gate and hit it hard)
Q – Pylon
R – Stake Corner
I’ve missed an arrow by I and J and this is called Burham Route Near Stream.
So there you have it. A list of terms used in a single household about the local area that is of no use to anyone!
White Flowers
Lots of daisies in the field near the reservoir.
Yellow flowers
More nice stuff while walking the dog. Isaac Asimov has been mentioned twice in my day. Once by me, once by the SGU. What are the chances?
Flowers
See, it’s nice down South! Another dog walk another lovely view. Probably going to rain in a bit.
North Downs
Walking the dog and there are marvellous views of the North Downs.