Making the cut

11th Mary 2025

As feared, the various forecasts proved correct and after a good run things changed on Monday when the weather became more unsettled and much more unreliable, with sunny mornings luring us into a false sense of security before clouding over and bringing rain later in the day. Not that Stephen would have been able to use his tree lopper, which was delivered on Monday, before the weekend anyway, it being a full working week for once.

After a fortnight’s dalliance it was all hands (well, two) to the pump for me when three lessons on Monday heralded an almost complete complement for the week (there’s always one).  We didn’t let any of this interfere with our usual Tuesday routine, of course, though there was an elegant variation with a new cashier at the check-out in Conad. She was very nice and very chatty, and even tried a couple of words of English while she was interrogating us about where we were from and why we were in MSP – almost as if she didn’t know who we were.

Thursday was an exciting day, partly because we took Peggy back to the vet’s in the morning but mainly because it was our tenth wedding anniversary. Stephen surprised me with a wonderful bunch of ten white roses and a charming little dish in aluminium, with the inscription “Ten years and counting”. Tin is the traditional gift but aluminium is the modern take, though if you consult a gift list, it will give diamond as an alternative – which seems a trifle excessive. I gave him a virtual bunch of flowers and, just in case you think I was being a cheap skate, dinner on Friday when we went the full works at Pomod’oro – antipasti, primo, secondo and desert, a glass of something fizzy as a pre-dinner gargle and, as I drove, Stephen was able to enjoy a good proportion of the bottle of the red we chose, the rest of which we finished off watching Conclave the next night.

As for the vet’s, we were slightly taken aback to see it was the young lady again rather than our friend, Francesco. She is very competent and obviously knows what she is doing but doesn’t engage as he does. Besides, we wanted to hear him tell us what a tremendous difference there was in Peggy. We know she is happier, more engaged with the world around her, and more confident in the way she is holding herself, and that her coat is smooth, healthy looking and shiny, but a second, unbiased (and admiring) opinion never goes amiss.

As for the main business of the morning, Peggy was vaccinated as per but we have to wait three weeks before she can have the new year-long antiparasitic injection that Harry was given in February. We did mention her being sterilised but the vet seemed to think we were still talking about inoculations. We just nodded as she repeated what she had already told us, tacitly agreeing that we would take it up later with Francesco.

After what was, on the whole, a fairly wet five days, the weekend has been dry and, on the whole, sunny, which might account for the first snake sighting of the year yesterday afternoon. This was the usual shiny black variety, and at about a metre in length maybe quite a young one, but it was enough to interest Peggy when it twisted its way across our path before disappearing into Mario and Luigi’s woodpile during our walk. Harry was less than impressed, but Peggy has been showing an increased desire to investigate when we have been out and about.

Mind you, they were both more than a little excited earlier in the week when we were heading down the way and a small furry thing bounded across our path as we neared the copse. It made it across safely and was last seen scampering up the trunk of the fig tree, though that didn’t stop Harry and Peggy from standing at the base barking madly. What did stop them was me dragging them away to continue our walk, reasoned argument having failed to sway them.

The fine weather also meant that Stephen was able to road test his new lopper bright and early this morning. He had said he wanted me on hand in case he needed a human safety harness near the banking, but when I passed by with Peggy and Harry for our morning walk he had already sawn off the ill-positioned branch, as well as a couple of others, with no danger to life or limb - unless you’re a tree that is. He had to admit defeat when another branch he had his eye on proved just out of reach, which is maybe just as well as we didn’t want to have to explain to the Mogliani brothers where their tree had got to.

By the time we had returned he was clearing away a nice little pile of off cuts, having taken out the top of a large bush, amongst other general tidying up, and saying that the lopper will be really useful for pruning the cherry trees, all three of which are precariously sited on the bankings, when the time is ripe. It’s comforting to know that the lopper was a good buy, and that it will be useful for things other than keeping the way clear for any passing laser beams.