Back and all in one piece

I am pleased to report that Gail returned from her short break in Germany sound in body and limb. 

"What's so remarkable about that?" I hear my readers asking. Surely, she was just sightseeing with her American friend in Berlin and Dresden, which is by no stretch of the imagination a high risk activity. 

Well it turns out that an incident on the fast train to Dresden, in which three armed customs officers strode purposefully down the carriage and engaged in a long and tense debate with the two men on the seats right next to Marse and Gail and then arrested both men, apparently for possession of illegal drugs, was a wee bit unnerving, but was not in fact the most dangerous occurrence of the trip*. (I was just disappointed to learn that no sniffer dogs were involved.)

Dresden skyline

Far more alarming, on so many levels, was the news that Gail and Marse had actually participated in a dance class in Berlin. 

Marse's niece Soroa, pictured above with Marse, is in Berlin carving out a career in contemporary dance. Soroa performs and teaches at the 'Tanzfabrik' (dance factory). She invited her aunt and the English friend to take part in her 'Vibrant Body' class on Thursday morning and assured them no experience was necessary and the age range of participants was typically 20 to 70 years old.

I can't believe that Gail, who last attended a dance class, in which she learnt 'The Dashing White Sergeant', half a century ago, actually agreed, as did Marse. Brave or foolhardy?

So it seems the class involved lots of 'body awareness' exercises and moving around to music in a way that owed something to a Berlin nightclub experience. Gail and Marse, who, notwithstanding Soroa's earlier claims, were decades older that the other participants, emerged mightily relieved that they had not fallen over, crashed into anyone or injured themselves in any way.

Really, it's not safe to let one's human out of sight for even a moment, is it? (Readers of my predecessor Bertie's blog might remember what happened when Gail went to Russia and got caught up in a terrorist incident...)

Friends be reassured, as of tomorrow I am reclaiming my blog, and the next post will be all about me. Meanwhile, I have pinned Gail to her reclining chair and she is not going anywhere.

*Gail says: following this incident on the train, a rather revealing exchange took place between Gail (British), Marse (American), and the friendly lady (German) who was sat at the same table. Marse had apparently been scared that the scene would end up in a violent shoot out, and they might be caught in the cross-fire.  Gail and the German lady, both citizens of countries with very different gun cultures from the USA, had noted that the customs men were armed but were not particularly worried as it had not occurred to either of them that the weapons might actually be used, or that the men arrested might also be carrying guns.

Showing up my owner?

You won't believe what Gail said when she came home from her trip to Berlin with her American friend Marse.

"Oh Nobby, I am so relieved. Marse has been telling me all about her two year old rescue Kelpie DB*, who now lives with her in Tacoma. Apparently he can be quite badly behaved. So now I'm not so worried you'll show me up when Marse comes to stay here with us at the end of the month."

It's hard to imagine, isn't it, that I might in any way show Gail up?

Apparently DB (pictured below) barks and howls a lot in the car and at visitors, shreds a bagful of toys a week, pulls heavily on the lead, pees on the basement floor, demands attention all the time and commits any amount of mischief. 

So totally unlike me, then.

Gail claims she had a good time in Berlin, despite not seeing any wire-haired fox terriers (I guess that's why she took so few photos).  She did see plenty of other dogs, often unleashed and calmly trotting along beside their humans, and she marvelled at the pups' obedience and excellent road sense. I guess it would be wrong here to bring up tired stereotypes about Germans, and by extension their pets, tending to be orderly types.

Meanwhile I, Nobby, had a wonderful stay on the farm, running around with my Craigmancie foxy relatives. I even was able to spend extra time with them as Gail couldn't pick me up early on Saturday as planned 'cos her car wouldn't start, but that's another story.

I guess I was pleased to see Gail when she finally got the car sorted, even if she uttered the dreaded word 'bath' the minute she set eyes on me...

That's me, Nobby, in the middle, with litter mate Biddy standing behind

*DB stand for Da Boss.

Bluebells and pigs and this and that

It's been a busy week here in the Nobby and Gail household, and I'm afraid all I have to show you for Nature Friday is a photo of me posing nicely on a bank of newly blooming bluebells. 

I was of course careful not to crush too many. 

Oh, and maybe the daffodils behind me and my foxie friends at Crathes Castle last Sunday qualify? (That's me, second from left, sniffing the grass.)

Gail thinks readers might to like to see some pictures of a bunch of somnolent pigs she cycled past earlier in the week. I was not present. Perhaps the porkers would have acted a bit livelier had I been around to bark at them...

A brief consultation with our vet friend Kirsty confirmed that the pigs are Gloucester Old Spots (spotty, of course), Tamworths (rusty brown), and maybe a mix of the two. 

The really exciting news of the week has nothing to do with nature, but I'm going to tell you anyway.  I am now formally enrolled in the Beginners' Class at Deeside Dog Agility Club. Gail used to train with Bertie there, and on Tuesday night she was warmly welcomed back into the fold and her old friends tried to remember to call me Nobby not Bertie. 

You will be doubtless hearing more about my agility antics in weeks to come. Although not next week, as Gail is apparently off to Berlin for five days to meet up with her American friend Marse and Marse's niece/goddaughter Soroa*, and I am going to stay with the relatives at Craigmancie Foxies. 

Oh dear, and it seems I've run out of space to talk about a big royal event that is happening down in London on Saturday...

*Soroa is attached to the Tanzfabrik studio/school in Berlin. You can read more about her dancing career if you click here  and you might, like Gail, begin to sense the existence of a parallel universe, far removed from our unexceptional life in Aberdeen...

Normal service will resume in a week. Meanwhile, do go and visit all the other Nature Friday posts in the LLB Gang's blog hop.