We did it, we made it to Cambridge!
Once we got off the ferry, I tried to find a quiet spot where I could adjust my satnav’s settings (metric to imperial) and come to terms with the fact that I had made it to England without crashing the car, losing the dog or causing any other form of catastrophe. Now things were starting to get serious and real with having to drive on the left hand side.
I found that spot near Dover castle, where Aramis could go for a run and enjoy himself while I was getting everything ready for my journey to Cambridge. I decided to stay in Cambridge because I will meet a good friend there tomorrow and would like to visit a museum or two.
After our arrival in Cambridge, I decided to take Aramis for a walk. Even though he started snoozing pretty much as soon as the door of our hotel room had closed behind us, I thought a little fresh air (‘heat’, on hindsight, would have been a more appropriate term) would do us no harm.
Let me put it this way: at almost 30°C, no wind, and with the sun giving its all it was an exceptionally nice, summery day. If there is a swimming pool nearby. But it was tedious for walking – and boy was town busy. But unlike in York, where you seem to see dogs everywhere, Cambridge was strangely void of canidae. Not that Aramis or I were particularly unhappy about this, but it suddenly made me wonder whether dogs were at all allowed in the town parks. Apparently they are, as nobody complained.
Aramis turned out to be quite the Academipup – extremely well-mannered, with an outstanding interest in the history of the area (‘what dogs have passed here before me?’) and generally looking as if he truly belonged here.
What happened between this and the following picture sadly has not been captured on camera and therefore, my written testament of the unfolding course of events must do: contrary to appearances, this place was crowded with visitors. In fact, to the left and the right of the photo there were groups of people kindly waiting for me to finish. I had only briefly taken Aramis’ leash off for the picture.
When I wanted to go back to him and continue our walk, I realised that a group of Asian tourists had stopped and were clicking their cameras at him. I gave Aramis his cue to tilt his head and they went delirious. I wish I myself had taken a picture of all these people photographing my dog! Aramis posed to the crowd like a pro (even though he was exhausted and if you have a careful look at his expression in my pictures today, you will notice that the heat was truly getting to him).
Back at the hotel, it took Aramis a while until he was able to fully relax – so many overwhelming impressions require a bit of processing! Now, however, he has made himself invisible by lying under the bed (Aramis likes being in the dark when he wants to sleep). He has gone to the Land of Dreams and I am happy that he had a fulfilling and tiring day. It’ll make me feel a little less bad when I visit Cambridge on my own tomorrow!
The Adventures of Aramis 