When I was doing my research before bringing Betty home for the first time, I was lucky enough to know an experienced dog trainer. Melissa had cared for my cats in the past, but the focus of her All4Pets business now is to provide dog training. She will still happily…
One of the ‘must dos’ in Cambridge is to sample a Fitzbillies Chelsea Bun. The cafe has been selling these sticky delights since 1921 and the recipe is not allowed to be written down. Steven Fry led a public outcry when the cafe was threatened with closure by tweeting “No! No!…
Book time off work. Or change jobs – If you need to keep working, you’ve probably already asked for flexible arrangements. Try to spend the first 2-3 weeks at home to get your pup toilet trained, socialised and used to you nipping out. Cancel your social life – You will…
When I was a teenager, I went to Grafham Water for a weekend to improve my jazz flute playing. We stayed in dormitories and attended various workshops according to our performance level and the type of instrument we played. It was at this weekend when, at the tender age of…
My brother, Sam, and his fiancee, Kristina, moved out to New Zealand during September 2013, so it had been over 2 years since I last saw them. I decided it was time to make the effort to go half way around the world. My mum recommended flying Emirates and taking…
Bloated and sluggish from Christmas Day overload, Betty and I decided to walk from Bideford Quay to Instow along the Tarka Trail on Boxing Day. The trail is popular with walkers and cyclists and covers a total of 180 miles in a figure-of-eight route, centred on Barnstaple. My mum’s house…
Okay, so you want a puppy. Yes, you have to consider all the sensible stuff, but it’s also worth bearing in mind that: They need the toilet all the time – You’re up and down like a yo-yo because they can’t open doors or congratulate themselves for going outside and not…
This walk is easy to navigate and is mostly off-lead. It can be a sociable experience too, especially at weekends – off-road cyclists enjoy keeping within the thin track on the Roman Road and the playground and sports field in the River Granta area is full of families. During the…
Now, I am used to Betty getting all the attention. She’s cute, friendly, and crazy funny. When she doesn’t have her nose to the floor, snuffling for food, she’s prancing around like a show pony, demanding that people take notice of her. The nights are drawing in so much at…
I had obsessed about diet and exercise for most of my 20s and 30s, and had equated beauty with thinness from as young as I could remember. During my 30s, three life events cumulated in me becoming depressed, and I thought the best way to get better was to concentrate…
