Beaches, hounds, boat cleaning - all very Autumnal

Back afloat, with the furry brown thing in tow, we did the expected thing - taking the doglet out for walks, ball fun, barking fun etc etc. Walks around the bay to Mermaid quay were good, as were those along the old railway track that head out of Penarth toward the country park. Izzy has a string of "favourite places" that she likes to pull towards. Usually they involve treats so every café and pub is fair game. High delight is the local pet shop and one Sunday she was very keen to go into the (closed) store. Standing outside looking hopeful: 

she refused to budge. If only she could read the "open/closed" sign life would be so much easier. Naturally the best place of all is the beach so we took the train to Barrybados, failed to meet Gavin and Stacey but allowed Izzy to indulge in her favourite digging and ball chasing games as per the video:

gf

We'd arranged to meet Simon, bearing in mind that Izzy and his Fox Red Labrador Moxie had a very happy time each time they met. Well, this time the chemistry was altered. They have another dog, Freddie who came along instead:

who is also way larger than Izzy and of course younger and faster. That didn't stop lots of chasing, barking and general carnage.

Apart from doting on the dog, we did some well overdue boat cleaning which was going well until the captain had a moment. His yottie boot slipped on a grab rail and he ended up straddling the door to the foredeck. Luckily the door was not quite high enough to raise his voice by a few octaves. It was not a good moment despite that and boat washing came to an abrupt and rather painful end. Far from ideal. 

Things perked up when Anne came to join us by train, we met her in Cardiff central station - a truly grim terminus for the capital city of Wales but needs must and all that. Izzy was suitably excited (suitably = massively) to see her mum as were we. Another Barrybados trip followed, meeting Simon, Nikki and their two dogs for a morning of complete chaos on the beach. Luckily a very tired Izzy slept in the cabin with her mum that night so we didn't get the full force of her snoring. 

Anne's return home was with us in the car, we were off to Toddlerville before heading to the ferry to escape the grey gloom and rain that seemed to persist this autumn.