Birthday girl and #webrokethedog

Anne arranged to come over to see us on Izzy the dog's birthday. She thought it was her 5th. We knew it was her 6th. The blog came in handy to prove that point!

An early dinner in the rather excellent Trinity's at the Lightship was enjoyed and the assistant manager took a shine to Izzy. When she heard that it was her birthday, a special delivery arrived:

Yes, a sausage with a candle in it. Spoilt dog indeed. She was impressed, but less so when only allowed some of it:

As we were in for a visit from Tina, a confirmed Izzy lover,  we were allowed to keep the small furry birthday girl for a few nights. Then it went a bit wrong. Giving her a run and fun in the park nearby we noticed that she stopped to lick her paw. Going to check for something stuck in it, the usual issue, the crew came away with a bloody hand. Yup, a cut pad this time. Plenty of cleaning it up then we carried the poor dog back to the boat - she was unimpressed. We were happy that she is a small and light one although nearly 8 kilos can be enough when she decides to wriggle. The bleeding stopped after a wash out, some anti-bacterial stuff was applied and a bandage too:

The sock on the bandage was to try and stop her from attacking it. However as soon as Izzy got even a teeny bit active again it started bleeding so mum was called and Izzy got taken to the vet for a couple of staples in the pad and a huge dressing:

#webrokethegoddog 

Tina was on her way to join us and plans were hastily rearranged - she had some Izzy cuddles, delivered birthday presents and then whilst the poor dog was being stapled, we were being fed on the lightship again:

We know that over the top of the glasses look only too well. It means many things but in this case something like "I hate having my picture taken and I will get even". We might keep the AIS switched off in future. 

There was rather a lot of harbour activity late one afternoon when the aircraft carrier Prince of Wales headed out. Harbour was closed, loads of patrol boats around keeping the leisure sailors and jet-ski loonies at bay too. Impressive sight as she left though:

The spinnaker tower looked a lot like a rather strange spare mast arrangement and the block of flats spoils the ski jump at the bow too. We did spot one rather brave light aircraft pilot heading this way. Silly person.

The weather didn't allow for much polishing sadly. It did let us cycle over to Southsea to see Paula and Nigel for lunch and then cycle back in the pouring rain. April showers arriving in May it seems. Some dramatic skies too, like this view of the tower one evening:

At night, it turns into a bit of a disco diva:

giving an impressive light show. All this entertainment for free. Talking of entertainment, the force 10 gusts on bank holiday Monday were just that. We had removed the bimini cover, added more lines and fenders and just enjoyed (?) the rollercoaster ride. Typical UK public holiday weather really. We abandoned a plan to head over to Cowes thanks to the wind and the captain who had sore back muscles and spent a day mimicking a ruptured penguin until the spasm eased. No idea what caused it, maybe a shortage of red wine. That possibility is now being well and truly avoided.