Sunny-day.

Today is the first day that it has really felt like spring. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, birds are tweeting and every man and his dog seems to be milling around the streets. It's that strange time of year where humans appear to awaken from the hibernation of winter - they're literally everywhere and seem somewhat confused by the correct attire for this time in February. Old ladies march by in winter coats and scarves, young children run to the parks in football kits, teenage girls meander into town wearing just skirts and t-shirts. It does amuse me.

I took Skye to the park this morning. I was expecting it to be chaos with joggers and fellow dog walkers but I saw no-one the entire time. We've had quite a few issues with her lately - I informed you of her great escape a few weeks back but it appears that her inner Steve McQueen hasn't quite subsided yet and this week as I was walking her after work, she started leaping around and slipped her harness again. It took me 2 hours in the dark, running around the icy pavements before I finally found her hiding under someone's Chrysler Voyager. If there was any amusement to gleaned from the whole debacle, the lady that owned the car came out of her house believing I was a burglar. I calmly informed her that my dog was under her car and it took me a good two minutes to convince her to look. Even when she did realise, she did not find it all that funny. Neither did I to be honest. What angered me more is that during those two hours of running around, I saw her three times and each time she saw me, she just ran faster. Disobedient isn't the word.

Needless to say, she is now on her third harness - a small black number that slips over her nose allowing me to lead her by the face. My initial reaction is that it looked cruel but after looking into it, I realised that it is actually an ingenious design. After all, you wouldn't lead a horse by the body. Not only does the lead clip to the harness but the harness clips to the collar so even if the nose piece comes away, she is still attached. I was dubious upon her first walk but was soon converted - the harness is amazing! Admittedly, it has taken her over a week to get fully used to it but whereas before she was pulling me along like a sled, she now walks naturally by my side. Best pet purchase we have ever made and you also get the amusement of her rubbing against your legs (and anything else she can find) when you first put it on in a bid to remove it.

Due to the subsidence of the pulling and general improved behaviour, I was actually able to take some photos on the walk this morning. Absolute miracle. 

Oh and remember 'C' from this post? Well you were all correct (as per usual) - she handed her notice in  this week. After what seems like forever at the company, she has found another job as a support worker for children with learning disabilities. I can imagine her being amazing in that role, dealing with people and no systems work involved. Sometimes you really do have to trust people to help themselves as, the majority of the time, they actually do.

Have a happy, sunny Sunday everyone!

One of those people.

Last night, just as I'd settled the dog down in the bedroom and was drifting off to sleep, Adam came in from a night out clanging and banging almost anything he could manage to clang and bang. He wandered into the bedroom, turned on the light and took the dog downstairs. To top it off, he then came to bed and allowed the dog to jump on the bed and smother me.

Needless to say, I ended up in the spare room. It's a small thing in the grand scheme of things but boy was I livid, especially as I'd warned him that afternoon. He's at work now and I haven't spoken with him much today.

Just to further cement myself as a crotchety old man, I've been shouting at children all day. They sometimes kick the ball full pelt at the fence, which usually I don't mind too much as they're only playing but when you hear it a thousand times a day, vibrating along the length of the house, it starts to get to you. I'm slowly working through making my feelings known to each group of kids so I'm sure they'll end up getting the message soon.

Other than that, I've wasted the day lounging around watching horror films as I get no time to myself these days. I work 9-5 five days a week and by the time I get home around 5:45, sort myself out, feed the dog, walk the dog, shower, do chores and ready my lunch for the next day, there really isn't much time left for anything else. Adam doesn't understand why I'm so snappy when he tries to dictate what we're doing each weekend or whenever he leaves me a list of things to do but I guess everything is starting to get on top of me. It's never important, urgent stuff either; I mean, I don't mind doing those things. I don't know how single parent families manage, I really don't but I do know that I have a great deal of respect for them.

Wow, listen to me becoming one of those people whom I'd always vowed never to be. Life can be a cunning little bitch sometimes can't she?

Poodle parlour.

I'll admit, I've come home from work to many strange scenes over the past few years but Adam bathing the hound yesterday was one of the funniest.

It's odd really, I've never quite grasped the concept of bathing a pet unless they are overly dirty but who am I to criticise? It provides fantastic entertainment.

Equals.

A few hours ago, gay marriage in the United Kingdom was approved in principal so if that doesn't warrant a blog post, then nothing will.

As a gay male myself, I have differing views regarding gay marriage but it has always presented itself as an almost archaic embarrassment in an otherwise widely liberal country. I don't think I would ever choose to marry (never say never) but that is more for personal reasons rather than the belief that gay people should not be allowed - it is just not something I would ever wish to partake in. I do however view the current 'civil partnership' system as somewhat of a smoke screen that segregates sexual orientations whilst at the same time prevents the British government from being labelled as bigots. It's a crowd pleaser, let's be honest. I believe that all humans regardless of race, gender, age or sexuality should have the same choices in life and that it should be down to the individual as to whether they then make those choices. Any law that restricts this automatically gets my back up and the gay marriage bill is the one stickler that I have had my eye on for a while.

Britain is one of the most powerful countries in the world and historically has been classified as a trendsetter when it comes to laws and policies. The fact that, up until now, its gay citizens were still deemed inferior to its straight population made my heart sink. Compared to the rest of northern Europe, we're practically medieval - our close neighbours in Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and The Netherlands have all offered marriage equality for some time now and I'm surprised that it has even taken this long to get the ball rolling. In fact, I honestly did not think the ball would ever get kicked let alone roll.

Imagine my surprise earlier at work, whilst busy tidying up ready for lights out; I looked up at our BBC news screen and was confronted with the headline 'BREAKING NEWS: COMMONS BACKS GAY MARRIAGE BILL'. Yes it has taken far too long and yes it is causing far greater chaos than the topic of equality really should but I have to say that I am incredibly proud of Prime Minister David Cameron for bulldozing this bill through despite going against his own party's beliefs and alienating many of his voters in the progress. It would be easy for the Labour party to pass this bill; the majority of their supporters are left wing liberalists who have been speaking out in support of this topic for many years. It's a sure fire vote-winner for Labour but for the Tories, it's a whole different ball game; staunch centre-right conservatives that have no interest in modernisation. News reports are describing him as a sinking ship, a kamikaze pilot losing the support of his peers but in all honesty, I really do not think this decision has done him any harm. There are thousands upon thousands of potential voters in this country that have never been compelled to visit a polling booth in their lives but this strong brave move from a man that stands to lose everything may just provide them with the encouragement they need in order to pledge their support.

I am a great believer in the idea that everyone should be entitled to voice their opinions and put across their views in a sensible, fair manner but it has angered me at just how many women have had the audacity to speak out against gay marriage over the past few days. The disgusting injustices that women have had to endure and overcome in order to get to where they are today, I would wholeheartedly expect the majority to pledge their support to the cause and to hear the triade of hate speech and ridiculous opinions from some of them has completely sickened me. It appears many feel that the guise of religion allows them to separate the trials gay people currently face from their own plight over the years - something I will never understand as if we still lived in accordance with holy books, women would not even be allowed to present an opinion on social issues, let alone vote.

The religious fanatics will continue to shout (possibly louder than ever before) and legions of bigots will hold on to the shield of 'religious views' in order to practice their hate speech but nothing can take away from the fact that times are changing and today will forever hold a place in history as the day Britain took its final step in the direction of universal equality.

Today I feel proud. Injustice never triumphs; not in the end.

The (not so) great escape.

This dog is crazy. I know that much is true.

I have to say thank you to those that commented on my last unnecessary crisis post. It reinforced the fact that what I was trying to convince myself was true and I've remained pretty calm about it ever since. That aside I've discovered that, on Friday, 'C' broke up with her life partner of all of two weeks and a good friend of hers advised me that she is beside herself. True to form, love (or the idea of it) will probably eclipse everything and she'll end up backsliding her way through her review period...... and out of the door. Like you all said, we're in charge of our own destinies.

We went on a small shopping trip around the city yesterday. For once, the sun decided to make an appearance; albeit a cold one and we've been meaning to go out and find the last few homely items for a while. We've been hankering after a new wooden coffee table as the glass one is driving us to distraction - I can spend literally 30 minutes cleaning it and as soon as I come back into the room, the dust has settled again. Adam came across a nice solid wooden one in TK Max. It is dark wood and rustic themed but it had a small gash on the side; he pointed it out to the manager who happened to be loitering nearby and she gave us £20 off. Not bad for a day's work! We also managed to sniff out a decent wooden mirror to go above the fireplace. I'll admit, the room has started to look a lot cosier since - as practical as glass is, it will never look as decadent as wood!

Wow, after rambling on about wooden tables and lounge mirrors, I almost forgot to share the complete trauma that occurred yesterday as we were getting in the car to go shopping! No wonder I'm so poor at blogging - I leave all the juicy bits out.

I was in the house frantically running around getting ready whilst Adam was getting Skye's harness on ready to load her into the car. After about 10 minutes, I left the house, locked the door and walked over to the driveway. Adam is usually ready and waiting impatiently in the car for me but this time, no-one was there to greet me. The car was locked and Skye's harness, lead and seat cover were blowing around on the front lawn. I looked around and listened for voices to no avail. I swear to god it was like the case of the Marie Celeste! I walked down the road both ways to see if I could spot anyone but there was no-one around other than a few kids playing in the street. At a complete loss as to what to do, I sat down on the lawn and waited. Twenty minutes later Adam came running around the corner from the park screaming at me to find some dog treats - Skye had slipped her harness and ran off into the woods! Words can't describe how angry I was. I'd told him countless times to make sure that the car was ready before taking her out and to make sure that everything was done up properly. I obviously chose the worst time to start the debate and was answered with a lot of shouting and swearing - he gets like that whenever he's stressed. He jumped into the car and rudely started shouting at me to get into my car and go and look. I was in such disbelief that as he drove away, I ignored my car and walked into the park towards the woods. After turning the corner who should I see tottering towards me as if nothing had happened? Skye. Her tail was wagging furiously, tongue held to one side and she ran right up to me and started to motion towards the front door. I couldn't believe it. As a child growing up, whenever our dogs escaped, it was always a good day or so before they were ever found and returned. This dog, who has only been with us a month managed to find her way back down the main road, through some woods and back to our front door!

My anger at how Adam had spoken to me after losing our dog still hadn't subsided, so I left it a good half an hour before I bothered to call him and tell him I found her. That might sound mean but you won't believe how clumsy and disorganised that boy is at times; maybe a fright like this might do him good. He does everything at rapid speed without setting aside any time to stop and think - that may be good in some life situations but in many of them it results in mistakes and clumsiness. These things happen, accidents happen but I just knew this was the result of him cutting corners and pulling her to the car rather than putting her harness on inside. He cuts corners a lot and I'm always there to pick up the pieces - the laid back slowpoke I am. Needless to say, we're friends again so all is good.

Now I'm going to take a few more pills in a desperate attempt to shake this migraine and pray to god that it will have subsided by morning. I don't get them often but when I do, the world may as well end. The only reason I am able to type this is because I am dosed up on Neurofen - a welcome break from laying in a dark room with no TV.

Come to think of it, what a poor weekend this has been. Such is life ay?