We had a nice, “normal” Sunday. Sue had a relatively stress free shift yesterday and that showed. She was really chilled out today which allowed me to be the same. Time was spent between the garden and in front of the TV.
Sue cooked a superb pork Sunday lunch. 95% of the time she cooks and I clear up and wash up. I quite like cooking but Sue hates washing up. I don’t mind it at all. I think it is by far the easier of the 2 jobs and I can be done in 10 minutes.
While we were in the garden I noticed that Molly, our Trailhound, seems to have an image on her bum. It’s either Jesus in a onesie or an albino baboon. I tried to get a photo of it but it never came out as it looks to the naked eye. I thought I would have a better chance while she was eating but she seemed to be keeping her bum away from me! I must have 100 photos of it. Sue said that if I had an accident and they looked on my phone to help ID me they would find 100 photos of a dog’s arse and have me pegged as a weirdo.
I took the dogs out as usual around 11 pm. I have worn a body cam on a few of the walks. If anything interesting happened it wasn’t picked up well by the camera even if the subject wasn’t far away. I think the foxes are hungry with the local takeaways being closed and also the pub. Not as much rubbish to scavenge through. It’s not unusual to see foxes on our street but we have seen a lot more of them recently.
A couple of days ago we had seen a fox fighting with a cat. The camera sort of picked it up but they were just too far away. We saw 4 foxes that night but this type of camera just doesn’t capture them if they are more than a few metres away. I didn’t bother with the cam last night. Even the body cam would have picked up what we saw! Early in the walk Charlie kept turning round to look behind us. He often does that. He is always on his guard so I ignored him at first but he kept looking behind so we stopped. I looked back and there was a large fox following us! Charlie was going nuts. He ver used to bother with foxes. I used to walk him off lead on a night but since he got big enough to take on a fox I can’t risk it. He has no road sense and could easily chase a fox over a road. Molly isn’t bothered by foxes despite having foxhound DNA but if Charlie took off after one she would go after him to back him up. The fox stood there for a few seconds and disappeared through the hedge.
We took the usual route past where I often see bats flying between the trees. A few years ago there were a lot more of them and they would fly around your head. They haven’t been there for a year or two but have returned. At the end of that path there is a barrier and through that is a public road. As we came round a bend in the path there were 4 lads coming through the barrier in the opposite direction. From the brief conversation that I overheard they had arranged to meet there and were greeting one another. They saw us and the conversations stopped. I held the dogs out of the way. Charlie is a very good judge of character and he wasn’t happy with this group. He is an excellent guard dog and was up on his hind legs, straining on the lead.
The lads were all probably in their late teens. All had hoods up with their faces covered and had gloves on. Their gloves were white. I have seen teens wearing masks but not surgical type gloves. Each of them thanked me for letting them through. They never took their eyes off Charlie!
A little further along the main road we went round a bend and there was another fox sitting in the middle of the path. It was younger than the last one. It never flinched. Just sat there. Charlie was off again! Straining at the lead. Foxes always have their escape route planned. This one was playing chicken and left it very late before it bolted through the hedge into the street that is on the other side. Why hadn’t I brought the camera??
A bit further on we turn off the main road. The path takes us past Tesco and also past the small wooded area where I think the foxes have their den. I think that it is there as over the years I have seen really tiny cubs on the path and when they got scared they ran into the trees. They won’t have been far from the den.
As we got along side Tesco Charlie was checking behind us again. I looked back and there was another bloody fox following us! He quickly disappeared into the trees. We carried on past the Tesco steps and into the carpark of the Community Centre. This is one of the dogs’ regular toilet stops. I looked back down the path and saw the fox again. He was peering round a bend in the path at us. Cheeky bastard! This walk would have made a David Attenborough film.
When we got back I watched a bit of TV and went up to bed. Before I went up I had heard a helicopter that seemed close by. I went into my office and got ready for bed. I looked out of the window and there was a police car parked over the road. We haven’t seen much of the police round here since the virus came. The helicopter was still circling. It was clearly searching. I watched it out of the bedroom window. It seemed to be moving around a wide area which included our street and the area that I had seen the 4 lads. It must be something serious. It’s expensive to have the helicopter up there for so long. An hour later it was still searching. I could still see it when I was in bed. I think I fell asleep around 1:30. A neighbour put on facebook this morning that there had been thefts from gardens in the area but I don’t think that was the reason.
I’m wearing the camera tomorrow!
Stay safe.
