Not The Day I was Expecting

This is what I was expecting yesterday to look like:

Drive to work, around 6:30, 7:00 ish. Stay at work until around 4 or so. Go to Northcote to inspect Freyja and Simon's new flat. Stay in East Melbourne overnight. Maybe have pizza for dinner.

This is what actually happened:

I left for work just before 7. As I was heading down the driveway, Lindsey rang asking me to drop by her place on the way past. The back door had been left open so Rupert and Hugo could get out during the day. Unfortunately, the fly door had blown half shut. The dogs would be able to get out but wouldn't be able to get in again - and they probably didn't want to stay out in the backyard until mid-evening.

I fixed the fly door and stayed to talk  to the dogs for a few minutes and then continued my drive to Reservoir. I got to work and was just getting settled when Lindsey came and said that both dogs had gone outside shortly after I left - and hadn't come back in again. Now it was true that it was a lovely day in Ballarat and it is equally true that Rupert and Hugo like lying on their mat in the backyard when the sun is shining and it isn't too hot. But it was a little more than two hours since I had left and it is unusual for them to be outside for that long.

We weren't worried that they had got out of the yard, but they are both long legged dogs and one of them might have broken a leg. They might have been bitten by a snake. They might have had a fight. Anything might have happened - although in all probability, nothing had happened.

I did a few of the more urgent things that were on my list, then headed back to Ballarat to see where they were. I made it clear that I wasn't heading back down to Melbourne again that day.

I arrived, to find both dogs at the front door (inside!), waiting to see who had come to visit. They were very pleased to see me. I gave them a treat or two - and they went back outside to lie on their mat in the sunshine. I strongly suspect that that was where they had been all morning.

I have to say it was a lovely day for driving around the countryside. But it does mean that I am more or less in the wrong place this morning. I am going to have to get organised and leave shortly. On the other hand, not only were Rupert and Hugo pleased to see me when I got to their place at lunchtime, but Brandy and Whiskey were also pleased to see me when I came home later yesterday afternoon. They weren't expecting me. I had taken my overnight suitcase with me in the morning and had put down an extra bowl of biscuits to tide them over until this evening

 

All is well at Hill House