Hand me the tick pliers will you?

I was having a very positive day the other morning where I suddenly felt wildly happy and was trying to pin down the things that make my spirits lift and came up with the following list; walking the dog in the early morning with the sun shining and the warmth of the day coming through; the dog galloping towards me with a foolish expression on his face, ball clamped expectantly in his jaws. Phil in the coffee shop greeting me by name, which effortlessly elevates me to the status of favoured few and allows me to glide past the queue of nameless mortals with a slight smirk as I claim my café latte. Husband having an afternoon off so that in one of the last great romantic trysts we can meet with the accountant to discuss the tax return, but we do manage a rare half hour together to idle as we please, albeit in the shopping centre car park. Last but not least, discovering husband has uncharacteristically forgotten to eat all of his Father’s Day Toblerone and considerately polishing it off for him.

Before I break into a chorus of “These are a few of my favorite things”, I should point out the happy humour moved swiftly into towering fury, following a family supper complete with: “It’s got celery in it!” “Is it meant to be pink?” and “I’m a vegetarian now”. The dog has also reverted to type and has scattered dog biscuits everywhere in an effort to get to the rejected ‘pink meat’ that ended up in its bowl. I have decided to reinstate my mother’s excellent rule, which is that no one has to eat anything put in front of them, but the only food discussion allowed must centre on how delicious everything is.

One of the other highlights of the week was the removal of a large tick from a friend’s dog. Her 18 year old son brought round the beast in a panic and to the amazement of the Drama Queens I managed to produce specialist tick removing pliers from the kitchen implement drawer and yank it out - eying the large, bloated, body with its tiny legs sticking out and waving tremulously I couldn’t help musing on the perils of overindulgence, be it canine blood or chocolate, and regretting the Toblerone I had wolfed earlier. I was actually quite impressed myself on the tick removal front as whilst it is par for the course for me to buy fairly useless bits of equipment – step forward the novelty ice cube trays, the apple twirler and the sandwich stamper – it is more unusual for me to a) actually use it and b) to be able to lay hands on it when I need it.