A puppy is for life, not just for Thursday

I've recovered from my Sunday rant. I had Thai for lunch, to answer the cliffhanger on the last post. My nano has arrived, small and svelt. Gadget euphoria is different this time. It's an amazing bit of kit and I'm really pleased with sound quality, screen quality, size and all that guff. But there are some things that gadgets just don't stand up against. Like puppies.

My mate Pete and his dad bought a puppy today. I was chilling out up at Naughton for the day and tagged along as the better things I had to do were boring. And not better at all, in fact. The litter was up north in Aberdeenshire, just outside of Stonehaven. A long way to go for a puppy. But worth it. It was a litter of ten highly enthusiastic pups, falling all over each other as though they weren't quite sure which foot went where, or indeed, whether it was their foot or not. Puppies like this lead to a rapid age reduction in all around them. We got back to Naughton and spent a huge amount of time introducing the newly-named Lara to her new surround-ings. Which meant two guys in their late twenties leaping around with a tiny black labradour acting as though they were eleven. Maybe ten. She was a bit sad, slightly confused and wondering where she was, where her mum was, and where her nine brothers and sisters were. Belly rubs would distract her from these questions, as did the introduction to Tiny, the family cat, and some of the horses. So she leapt about, hugely curious, scared, excited, sad, eager and hungry. I know the feeling.

I have a stock take this weekend. I fucking hate stock taking. This will be the last time I ever do it.