Spring has finally arrived and with it comes the early morning birdsong, the scent of flowers in the garden and this year, rosette man.
Sighted every four or five years this rare species sports a coloured rosette or sticker and is to be found on doorsteps throughout the land in the early evening.
Only appearing for around six weeks, the illusive creature can often be seen walking the streets in groups of up to ten or so individuals.
Courtship rituals seem to include kissing babies, appearing to show sympathy towards local causes and handing out balloons.
Faded yellow Princess
What a pain it is to be disturbed on a regular basis by people knocking at the door or posting leaflets.
Mum says that the visitors are from the chew tax people and are wanting to know if we would support them in something called an election.
We woof loudly every time the doorbell rings and they soon leave the doorstep. Often before mum answers it. For some reason mum seems to appreciate this.
Dad says he does miss the good old days when the campaign car, very often an old faded yellow British Leyland Princess, would tour the streets with large speakers strapped to the roof rack.
Sometimes candidates would use ice-cream jingles ahead of the political message, he adds with a smile.
We think you must have needed to be there to fully appreciate the moment.
Charlie also plays a little game with the assorted leaflets. However, he does have his favourites so far.
Charlie’s top five tips for grading election leaflets.
- The thin cheap home printed leaflets don’t taste too good and rip easily. Claggy when wet.
- Glossy three fold leaflets put up more of a challenge and make for good tearing.
- Business cards are great for throwing around but they do catch on your teeth and need a paw to lever them off.
- Leaflets with stickers are good because you can peel them off and stick them to the wooden floor or Buster.
- Promotion literature by post is great. Multi thickness leaflets, assorted bright colours in an envelope. Good lasting fun.
Sore
Last week I did rather a silly thing when I jumped out of the bath.
Unlike Charlie I am not a fan of baths and this time I slipped and did something to my back.
Mum took me to the nice lady at the doggy hospital and she gave me an injection and some tablets. I moped around for a few days and was a bit sore but was allowed to have the fire on in the lounge to keep warm.
All seems ok now and today was our first walk to see how I got on.
Blossom
The last few days of sunshine has brought on the flowers, blossom and leaves.
Most of the daffodils are now starting to die back and the larger plants are taking over.
Our walk today followed the usual route in Victoria and Bitts Parks and we were amazed to see the changes in the colours and sniffs.
Tulips are ready to burst forth their colour in the assorted borders and blossom covers many of the trees.
Bright green leaves are starting to appear in some trees, a sure sign that the harsh winter is almost behind us.
Frost
Overnight the air still gets a bit frosty and mum has not started planting in the garden yet.
This morning our seeds from the BBC Dig In campaign arrived.
Salad, basil, carrot, french bean and courgette seeds were sealed into the envelope along with some stickers and a handy book of words for mum.
Thankfully this was one envelope that Charlie did not get to.
Heron
Just before we left the park dad spotted this heron waiting for his supper on the banks of the River Eden.
Nesting nearby in a big tree herons are to be regularly seen in the area.
Orkney-campsites
And finally…. as they say in all the best stories… mum and dad have taken full advantage of my down time over the last week by putting together a new website called orkney-campsites.com
This site is a spin-off from the much larger Spirit-of-orkney site they produced last year following a trip north.
Featuring campsites and related content including taxi details and places to visit they hope it will help visitors plan ahead of their to Orkney and and the associated Islands.
Until next time
Buster and Charlie