I should know better

A hot hot show in the beautiful border country. I set off before 6, and since public transport in this country assumes that no-one moves on a Sunday before 9, I had to get a taxi to Edinburgh, to the kind person who would give me, Prudence and Florian a lift.

It was really early and I had been up since 4. I suppose if I had been a little more awake I might have noticed that the confident taxi driver ("nae bother!") was wearing a big gilt crown with "King of the Numpties" engraved on it. An hour later I was in no doubt, as after a unguided tour of Edinburgh we came to rest beside a bus garage, totally lost, and I had to phone my friend to come and rescue us. Greatly to his credit, my friend`s husband did not tell the driver how to get home........

i hope he`s still wandering. Cruising the bypass forever - the Flying Numpty.

Thr show was hot and got hotter -a cloudy sticky heat in the high eighties. Florian didn`t like it and although he won his class, did not give of his best in the dog challenge, where he had a good chance. Prudence said she didn`t like the open air rings and the proximity of big dogs. Marcus gave his all but didn`t get much in return. One of those days.

Home in the heat though the lovely border country - without Florian, who is visiting with Marcus until the weekend. My friend`s home boasts a large pond full of ancient koi - well some are over twenty years old and the size of cod. They heave half their bodies out of the water in the hope of food, and fix you with an alien fishy glare.

Prudence was amazed. What could they be? How could they live in water? Did they eat Papillon? Should she bark - yes indeed she should. Probably quite a lot, just to be safe.

Her mother Siggy would only have had two thoughts.

1. I can swim.

2, I bet they taste good.

Prudence, like Hamlet, thinks altogether too much.

As Hamlet could have told her, you miss a lot of good dinners that way...