It's been a mixed bag of late here.
The bank holiday ended with me and the Boy taking one of our cats to the emergency vets after he'd been attacked by a huge (well, compared to our two) and vicious new kit on the block. Turned out the perpetrator had just missed his jugular. So eight lives remaining.
The staff on duty were certainly kept busy that night and we were kept well and truly entertained whilst waiting for our feline to be patched up. There was a fox under the reception desk, in some cases it was difficult to decide who was the patient, the animal or the owner, and have you ever waltzed into the vets with your little dog in one hand and a glass tumbler full to the brim with cola and clinking ice in the other?
Poor Buzz is now sporting an impressive wound on his neck that resembles a bullet hole (not that I've actually seen one but I've watched plenty of crime dramas and read Jo Nesbo). He's not at all happy to be housebound (cue much caterwauling) and has been subjected to so many salt water baths, he's at risk of being pickled.
But it hasn't all been doom and gloom. Sometimes, a short drive and some solitary time in the fresh air is all that's needed to put aside, at least for a little while, all the unsettling stuff that's happening in the world (and closer to home) and lift the spirits.
There was also the treat of an afternoon tea (yep, a vegan version for me) with my cousin to celebrate her birthday (I love buying presents that you get to share). This was a first visit to the venue, the town's only Grade 1 listed building, since its recent controversial renovation. Last used as a boys' grammar school, it had been empty and neglected for years and the surrounding grounds overgrown. The land either side was cleared of trees (there was a public outcry but once they're gone they're gone) and is now occupied by new housing and a soon to be completed hospital, with the result that the hall now looks so much less imposing than it once did and, despite having stood in that spot since 1683, sadly out of place.
The littlest paid a visit and off we went to a PYO flowers event in a beautiful walled garden in the adjoining county of Durham. Of course, he wasn't the least interested in tulips, much preferring to just run and run. And then run some more.