Bath Skyline and Crufts

It has been a sunny but cold week. We are grateful for the sunshine and the longer evenings which means we leave work in the daylight and if lucky arrive at our doorstep before the sun goes down. On Monday evening we went to see Alice in Wonderland - a film I had high hopes for - there is something to be said about not looking too forward to things. We went to a little cinema about 5 minutes drive away - it is close but we just hadn't tried it before. It is quite small and old, but comfy and a good Monday special so we will probably go back. The rest of the week passed in a blur as it normally does - get up - go to work - get back - cook dinner - relax or supermarket shopping - sleep and then it was another weekend - they come around so fast which is all good. Saturday dawned a lovely day and we decided to walk the Bath Skyline. So up to the hills we went (picture a little rolling one rather than the Tararuas). It was a 6 mile round trip and it was nice to see Bath (canal, abbey, town centre and terraced houses that wind themselves up, down and around the hills) from up high. We enjoyed the meander through green sports fields (with not a soul on them), some bush, across a horse jumping paddock and up and down hills and through some mud (a walk just isn't the same without some mud). We lunched at the top of the hill and had some more treats from back home. 

Sunday was dog day. We'd booked to go to Crufts in Birmingham. It was an early start but worth it because we were up there, parked and having a cup of tea in 90 minutes. We found the arena (early starters get front row seats), and spent most of the day sitting watching agility exercises and competitions (dogs jumping over fences, running through tunnels and tyres and weaving themselves through sticks). I went to bed with the picture of a little grey dog jumping and barking fast and furiously over the course. The faster he went the louder his barking became. We also saw an exhibition on dog safety for children - very well done - and I learnt a couple of things to do if more dogs bark and jump at me up at the park. There was a display on pets for the disabled (did you know that they are not only trained as hearing and seeing dogs, but also can detect changes in body odour that warn a person of health attacks even before the person knows they are going to have one - hence they can take their medication and prevent an attack - impressive I thought).  We also saw a display of RAF sniffer dogs that work overseas with the forces and some others walking around with the their owners to music.  The photos came out quite blurred but that is what happens when you attempt to photo little dogs speeding over jumps and through tunnels. We enjoyed it. We finished the day off by stopping at Droitwich for dinner.

It is Mothering Sunday over here - and there were lots of families out with their Mums. I didn't realise until I read a Letter to the Editor where some one was complaining about not being able to find a Mothering Sunday card that there was actually a difference between it and Mothers Day. What's in a name I thought. Well a lot. Mothering Sunday now involves chocolates, flowers, cards and breakfast in bed etc but was actually a Christian festival and during the sixteenth century, people returned to their mother church for a service - usually either a large local church, or often near a Cathedral. This is where they often met their family as everyone gathered to attend the mother church. When someone did this they were said to have gone "a-mothering". Later on it was a day when domestic staff were given a day off to visits mothers and family - sometimes the only time the family could get together. By the 1930's Mothering Sunday was one of those things that only few people observed but when World War II was on it became a bit more in vogue. Mothers Day is a bit of late addition and in 1914 it became a US holiday. I always got the feeling that Mothers Day was simply a marketing technique of a clever salesperson which is what it has become but maybe, just maybe, there is a bit more of a hidden depth to it than I realised.