Grace

Went to the Kennel Club International Agility Festival last weekend. It ran over three days but my friend and I went just for the Saturday. I had entered my dog and was down to handle my friend's Sheltie, too, so had five runs in all during the day. The weather was kind to us and the dogs behaved beautifully. Me and little Saffy the Sheltie came away with two clear rounds - her first at KC level - whilst me and Phoenix bumbled along with 10 faults in one round and eliminations in the other two. Ah well! He was very good though - I was proud of him.

Unfortunately, the day was overcast by a terrible tragedy when a man collapsed after running his dog and, despite the best efforts of paramedics, who arrived very quickly, died soon afterwards. :( This man had been set to judge on the Sunday and, though I didn't know him personally, it sounded as though he was well liked by many agility people. It just goes to show that you never know how long you've got, so live life to the full. So sad, though...

I've been a bit hyper this week so far - got my hair cut, sorted some of the garden, tidied my room, changed my bed, done my laundry, sorted my clothes, bought some much-needed new clothes, been training with my dog, etc, etc... Am quite pleased that I've been productive for once. It's so easy sometimes to just sit on the interwebz all day and scribble in my sketch pad. Which isn't a bad thing, either, but it means I forget to do things I should be doing. :P I think I'm cheery because I've managed to wrangle a trip to Oxford Saturday evening to see the Studio Theatre Club's next play, an Agatha Christie number called "The Hollow". :D Yay! I didn't think I'd be able to make it because money is very tight at the moment and, also, I am at work most of Saturday and then Sunday as well. *But*, by providence, because I usually get paid on the 21^st of each month, and that falls on Sunday this time, I get paid on the Friday before instead - so I'll have money for Saturday! I can afford to fill up my car and make a boomerang trip down south. Really quite pleased -- and it'll certainly punctuate my otherwise dull nine-days-of-work. I'll get very little sleep Saturday night in return but, hey, I can collapse when I get home from work Sunday afternoon... ;) It'll be fine. I'll have had my fix.

I've updated my satnav today with up-to-date maps and have also changed the voice. It was my first time using this satnav last Saturday, for getting to the agility show - this being the satnav my dad gave me after my old one got stolen - and my friend and I quickly tired of the preset voice of "Emily", who sounded thoroughly emo and gave one the impression that she would rather be doing *anything* other than telling you where to go. She was such a misery guts that I have today downloaded a few more voices in search of someone a bit cheerier. Since I've never had a male satnav voice before, I decided to set the voice to one called "Daniel", who sounds like he's going to be debonair and ever so slightly cocky. We'll see how long we can put up with this chap before I have to change it again... ;) He'll be dictating directions to Abingdon on Saturday - though, in all fairness, I should know where I'm going by now! I've been to Oxford twice now, and also go the same route to Wincanton and use Oxford as my midway stop. ^^; I'm sure I'll have it memorised by the time I've driven down to Wincanton for Hogswatch in November. If not then I should be concerned that I never pay any attention to where I'm going whilst I'm driving.

Gonna try squeeze in some drawing this evening but I am feeling rather tired so it might be a early night for once ready for my 4am rise-n-shine for work tomorrow. Oh joy. :)

--x-posted to http://jurious.livejournal.com/