Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
As we exited via the tangle of wellies, I think we both realised what a missed oppor-
tunity this had been. From our cursory view, the land did appear to be eminently suitable.
We didn't need to rely on any highly suspect estate agent information to arrive at this con-
clusion. It was obvious by just looking beyond the domestic catastrophe.
There were several areas of woodland, interspersed with large pastures, corralled by
sumptuously thick hedgerows. I could even see a stream running through one of the fields.
What a crying shame that the owner had made such a good job of massacring what could
have been a perfectly acceptable residence.
Rounding the corner in front of me I started thinking about recalling the dogs but was
diverted. It was Jack who'd let out a series of descriptive oaths which had something to do
with a scrapyard. He was looking at one of the outbuildings which was more like an open
warehouse. It was half the size of a football pitch and contained several complete cars and
engine parts belonging to a variety of vehicles.
Ancient pieces of indoor and outdoor furniture were strewn about, mostly broken, and
then there was the soft furnishings and bed section. Many, many mattresses, stacked on top
of each other were surrounded by piles of mouldy bed linen. It was here that we found Biff.
He was having a splendid time darting around between household items hunting for
what I feared might be rats or, at the very least, mice. My assumption was an easy one be-
cause both species of rodent form excellent sport for a terrier. As I attempted to disentangle
him from the various bits and pieces, I noticed that Jack, completely ignoring my efforts at
recovering the dog, was now in a world of his own.
He was deeply absorbed, energetically prodding around this veritable
El Dorado
for
salvagers. This was frustrating and one look at the dithering ItsWill told me that he'd be
hopeless in the dog-retrieval stakes. So I temporarily gave up on Biff, left Jack sprocket-
hunting and went off in search of Sam. As I left, I heard ItsWill commenting to Jack.
“What an absolutely charming little chap that one is and jolly spunky too by the looks
of things.”
I should have realised where Sam would be. Yup, there he was, wallowing around hap-
pily in Neptune's creation up to his neck in water. As usual, my first few attempts at calling
him out made no impression at all. Just as I was about to start yelling at him I was out-bel-
lowed by a voice that came from directly behind my shoulder which made me jump out of
my skin.
“I bloody well knew it!”
Jack had appeared with trousers fringed with tell-tale traces of oil and one very indig-
nant looking terrier stuffed under his arm.
“Look at your sodding dog in there,” he exclaimed. “God almighty, you spent hun-
dreds of pounds attempting to get that animal trained and it doesn't take a blind bit of notice
of anyone. Thanks to his 'beautiful thick coat', he's going to be soaking now for the rest of
the day and water-log the car.”
