Deferring

The plan had been to take a friend and her horse with us for a ride in Thetford Forest today. Unfortunately she wasn’t feeling very well, so we deferred our outing in favour of a hack at home instead.

We were out for nearly 2 hours all told. It was fab. She’d even made lunch for us to take. So we when we got back, we had a picnic in the tack room. I did offer to unlock the lorry so we could sit in there. Lunch in the lorry has a lovely ring to it.

Sometimes plans work out. Sometimes you just make a new plan. This one worked out well after all. Happy Sunday everyone.

Evenfall

What a wonderful way to end a rather frustrating day. Customer Service is a dying art. Or maybe we’ve gone too far with the whole ‘keeping your account secure’ thing. I’ve been stuck in an email loop trying to prove who I am. Honestly, it made me laugh and almost cry at the same time.

I have to admit, they got off on the wrong foot by sending me an email addressed to ‘Valued Customer’. That’s rich when you hear where we went next…

Questions like ‘what’s the email address associated with the account?’ Umm that would be the email address you’ve emailed me on.

‘What’s the account number?’ Oh the one on the email I originally sent you?! That one?!

‘What’s the name on the account?’ The name I put in the original email? No, I’ll repeat it. It’s Philippa.

‘Sorry we can’t accept your answers as you signed your email Pip. Not Philippa…’

Give me strength!! So I called them. Ranted for a while. Still getting no further with answering the questions I had. Eventually the poor person on the phone said she’d raise a complaint for me. I did apologise to her as it wasn’t her fault.

Please tell me it’s not just me?! Then they had the cheek to send me a ‘customer satisfaction survey’. Lock and load people…!

At least my ride was much more pleasant. It was the perfect temperature. Perfect ponies. Perfect company. Just perfect.

Nettles

I think most people know that I love nature. I love being out in it. I love almost everything about it. I say almost, I’m not mad keen when nature fights back.

As it was a nice day, I thought I’d mow the lawns and have a bit of a tidy up of the borders. Great plan I hear you say…

This is me, so it wasn’t going to run smoothly. But even by my standards, I excelled myself. There were a few rather large nettles. No problem, I have protective gloves for them. Unfortunately, they don’t protect against ineptitude. I am now the proud owner of many stings. I peaked when I managed to pull one up and smack myself full in the face. I can confirm that flipping hurts!!

Bert tried to come to my rescue, but ended up taking me out with his cone. We’d been doing well with the body suit. Till he had an accident. I wasn’t quick enough with the fastenings (the clue is there). It needed to go in the wash. So we were back to the cone of shame. My legs are covered in scrapes and bruises from him bashing into me.

I managed to mow the back lawn after nearly falling over him several times. Then it was onto the front. Where a dog rose decided to attack me. Seriously?! They hurt too I can tell you.

Thankfully a full brown bin ended my gardening efforts and I headed to the yard. Buddy had excelled himself in the poo stakes. So that was fun!

Even though I covered him in fly spray, he spent the whole ride trying to get the flies off. There were so many today.

All in all, I’d say it was a draw between me and nature today. My face is really sore. Not as bruised as Bert’s Crown Jewels. He keeps rolling over to show me…

Appropriate clothing

My choice of t-shirt was absolutely on point today! Love it when that happens. I had a very lovely day planned. I was going to meet a friend for a lovely relaxed hack round Blickling…

First I overslept, then the weather forecast looks a bit suspect and it being school holidays all put pay to that. So we went for a very lovely lunch lunch instead. Just as enjoyable. We managed to sit out for some of it, but after being buffeted a little bit too much by the wind, we headed indoors.

Good job too as the heavens opened! That was a rather regular occurrence for the rest of the day. One minute sunshine, the next minute rain. I had to laugh as I ended up being stuck in a stable mid-muck out. Reminded me of the quote ‘there’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing’. My t-shirt was may have been apt, but didn’t really help to keep me dry. Maybe not that appropriate after all…

Power walk

There was definitely something in the air today. Some very odd energy. Not sure if it was the cold wind with the hot sun, but there was definitely something going on.

Both the Baby Sprocker and the Oversized Labrador were on missions! The power walk was on full display for them both.

Took Bert out for a long walk this morning and Buddy out for an even longer walk this afternoon. All in all I covered over 10 miles. No wonder we’re all tired tonight.

Medicinal

I’m still feeling a tad crappy. But the sunshine was far too hard to resist. I had a sudden burst of energy so took Buddy out for a short medicinal hack.

It lifted my spirit for sure. And released a lot of snot judging by the number of sneezes I did on the way round.

Thankfully Buddy doesn’t react to my sneezing. Unlike Bert who is most concerned every time I sneeze or cough. There has been a lot of concern over the past few days…

Wonderful

What a difference a day makes huh? On Tuesday, I needed my layers as I rode round Blickling. Today, I needed less. It was wonderful to be back there. In the glorious sunshine.

I’ve had a wonderful day all round. One of those days where things line up and you seem to sail through things. Lots of wonderful things happened. Nothing earth shattering, but wonderful nonetheless.

Buddy had a wonderful day out with his friend Archie. Bert had a wonderful day when he discovered my yard owners dogs’ food. Little piggy!

The after effect of that aren’t quite so wonderful. His puppy farts are off the scale! He’s even spooked himself with them. I know I shouldn’t laugh, but I think he’s disgusted himself.

Sheepish

Buddy and I headed over to catch up with a good friend and her trusty Haffy this afternoon. While out on our ride, we came across these sheep. There were lots of frolicking lambs. So cute!

We also came across a cast sheep. Poor thing was stuck on her back. And heavily pregnant to boot. My friend went to help her while I looked after the horses. Not a clue how long she’d been like that, but she was clearly exhausted. The farmer was called so she could be check on. Fingers crossed she was OK. Good deed done for the day…

Po

You know when you see something and you think ‘there’s a story there….’ Well this was one of those moments.

Ironically, it wasn’t on ‘Teletubby Hill’ – the nickname we have for one of the lanes near the yard. It was further on. Made me laugh as it’s not what I was expecting to see on a Sunday afternoon.

Buddy and I had a lovely ride out. Apart from a bit of a wardrobe malfunction. His hi-viz sheet somehow flew over his tail and was flapping round in the strong winds. I couldn’t get it back in place while onboard, so I rode back sitting on it. It wasn’t the most comfortable, but at least it stopped it acting like a sail.

As Po would say ‘uh oh!’

Extremities

This is the face of someone who can’t feel their face! Made the mistake of assuming that cause I got rather warm mucking out that I wouldn’t need my ‘big coat’ on our ride.

I was very, very wrong…

I fear I got a bit carried away, cause there was little bit of sunshine today. I couldn’t feel my extremities by the time I got back. The ‘big coat’ was back on for Bert’s walk I can tell you. I’ve just about thawed out.