We took another nice walk in the sunshine in the Leicestershire countryside this morning.
Soon after the walk, we said goodbye and drove off towards York. It was an easy journey, taking no longer than the two hours predicted.
When I turned into the street I used to live in, I was greeted by our neighbours’ daugher, now eleven years old. She was only just starting school when I first met her… She was very happy seeing me and it was as if I had only been on a longish holiday, and had now returned home. Her first question was whether I’d brought my dog and if she could say hello. Of course she could and I was so proud of her when I saw that she remembered to approach Aramis very calmly, just as I had taught her so many years back.
I was so happy to meet my friends in York and am so grateful to be allowed to stay with them for a few days. One of them may accompany me on my way home, and if she does, I’m sure it would turn the journey back into a wonderful one.
We spent much of the afternoon chatting and catching up, and then decided to have Sushi at our favourite place for dinner. So before we went into town, I took Aramis and myself on a trip down memory lane to our old walking route along the river Ouse.
Aramis undoubtedly recognised where we were and ran back and forth, enjoying himself a lot.
My friends have a cat and Aramis and he usually need some time to get used to each other. Aramis is curious and I realised that he finds my friends calling their cat highly stressful. So with the help of my very understanding and patient friends we worked on a bit of counter-conditioning. Fortunately, the cat is very self-assured and dog-wise. As he does not tend to make rash decisions and warns Aramis if he is too close, I could not wish for a better cat to show Aramis that felines are best ignored.
As I have been writing today’s blog post, Aramis has been lying on my feet, slowly dozing off. He is lying on his back with his hind paws high up in the air. They and his whiskers twitch on occasion. It has been another adventurous day for Aramis, but he is really giving his all on this journey and is being such a well-behaved, exemplary companion.
The Adventures of Aramis 