Who gives a cr...

Well December is here and I thought I'd try a slightly different sort of title for a change. Several of us have written on the Village Website about rubbish and littering around the parish and here I go again: what got himself irritated yesterday was bags of dog poo left along the canal towpath. If you're concerned enough to bag it why do you leave it? I know some dog poo bags are sold as being biodegradable but why just leave it in the middle of the path? If you want to leave it somewhere try your own living room floor! As usual the internet offers a variety of opinions, and as is often the case nowadays they are often strongly held and bear tenuous relationship to law. This site gives a clear summary of the legal situation but for the full experience try the " Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996 ". Note that the act does not apply to woodland or agricultural land, and Forestry England are sufficiently concerned about plastic pollution to support the "stick and flick" principle when deeper within woods.

Now he's got that rant out of the way I wanted to introduce my own title for this month – "Look up!" How many of you do it, probably most do around the house or work, but outside? Or, metaphorically, thinking about what you can see? Himself has trained me to look up when seeking for my tennis ball (we play hunt the tennis ball in the garage when he's working there, and my nose is so good he's taken to hiding it above Labrador head level). Himself was going on about the planets the other day when I took him out at my bedtime – something about Jupiter, Saturn and Venus all being visible and in a straight line low in the western sky during the early evening. He sent a very "niche" aka nerdy picture to the children and was told in reply that if he looked harder Neptune was also visible in almost the same line – cue his subsequent vague and inconclusive searching of the cold night sky with binoculars. If you're minded to indulge in such foolishness himself recommends this website, and set your location as Manchester, England (not USA!). The brighter 3 of these planets are still visible low in the southern sky after sunset. I've asked him to remove the night sky picture he wanted to show you, as the only two learning points are a) the night sky is very dark and b) he can't take a good picture of it.

I'll let you into another looking up secret – himself is "into" clouds. Not of smoke or vapour but the damp fluffy things up there. Fortunately he's not into clouds to the extent that he's a member of the " Cloud Appreciation Society " Now that's niche! So this furrowed cloud, that we spotted pointing towards Winsford the other day is who knows what – or do you know better?! And here's another nice sky picture from the last few days ....

So another bit of "news" – himself and I have decided that this will be the last of my blogs for the time being. I started dictating these to him at the end of 2016, with the first blog appearing in January 2017 in the early days of the village website. Apart from a couple of gaps over a summer holiday or two we have put out a monthly contribution for the last five years – almost half a Labrador's lifetime. The blog archive remains on the website – and if you want my take on things just stop us for a chat.

Madai – your retiring rovering reporter
(with the help of 'himself' Andrew Guy)

Can I and many others take this opportunity to thank Madai (and himself) for posting his monthly letter for FIVE whole yearsto this website. It has given us a colourful and interesting insight to what a dog's life a dog leads(!)
Many thanx A.G. for your kind input for this village website.

Editor. 10/12/12

Page last updated: 10/12/12 10:10:01