Baptism of Fire (well, flood actually!)

Hmmm. I seem to have taken my eye off the ball this week - especially where water consumption is concerned....and to make matters worse, for a couple of days 'pointing' was non existent, although more a case of not eating them all than eating too many - which is probably just as bad!
Today, I seem to be in permanent hunger mode - maybe I was a locust in a former life?
I deliberately had a 'proper' breakfast (2 rasher grilled bacon, grilled tomato and toast made with ww bread) so that I had a decent start to the day, and although I did have it quite early, by 9.40, I was dipping in my low points snack drawer for nibbles!

Tomorrow is WI day, and I have to say I am resigned to my fate this week....apart from being bloody cross with myself, there isn't much I can do (other than track like a demon from now on) that is going to make a whole lot of difference to tomorrows outcome!

Its not like I was out all over the weekend drinking (despite the photo on my facebook page - which was staged for comic effect, honest!) and stuffing my face - in fact if I had, I would probably be crosser!
Saturday was when the 'trouble' started.... we were off in the caravan to a two day game/country fair where we do demos and educate interested folk about the dogs and how they work etc. I was given the caravan by a (lovely) friend when she upgraded hers at the beginning of the year, and although 'old', it is in fantastic condition (wish I could say the same for me!).
As the show ground is relatively local to us, we thought we'd set off at around midday, drop the caravan off at our pitch, and then go and help set up the marquis...well that was the plan!
The 'conversion coupler' which I had bought on the Friday, in order to allow very new car to pull very old caravan, was the wrong one, and a 30 mile round trip to exchange (car packed to the gunnel's with dogs and kit) it followed. Now you would have thought having got the right part, we would have been on our way - but no.
The lights on the 'van wouldn't work, and after half an hour or so of muttering, and stomping it occurred to Himself.com that he might have forgotten to 'flick the switch' on 'vans control panel. I had no idea there was even a switch to be flicked, but I smile benignly, and even managed to refrain from excessive eye rolling when that was indeed found to be the cause....finally, we were on our way.....or were we?

We had gone about 15 miles, and Himself.com (trying to sound casual) mentioned he may have forgotten to take off the caravan hand break.....he pulled over and sure enough he had!

Did I mention we are new to this caravanning lark......?

Four hours later than planned, we arrived on site in a deluge of wind and rain, and headed straight in to the showground, caravan 'n all.
The rest of the group were soaked wet through, having battled the elements to put up the tentage, ....I don't think we were very popular getting there just as they finished!
As there was nothing left to do, we went to pitch up at the camping area, just in time for it to stop raining. we had a cuppa, ran the dogs, who had been sitting patiently in the car for hours, and then decided (as we had nothing else to do) to try and attach the awning!
I say 'try', because my friend had advised she had never used the awning - she had bought the 'van second hand herself -, and had no idea what condition it would be in, or if all the 'bits' were there.
A couple of hours later, and with the help of the smashing couple pitched up next to us, we finally managed to work it out and up it went in all its spacious glory!
It was about 8pm by the time we realised neither of us had eaten since breakfast, and so I put a couple of lasagne's (not ww) in the oven, I ran the dogs again while they were cooking, we ate our meal, and fell into bed exhausted.

Day one of the show was a complete washout, wet and windy, and boy was that wind bitterly cold! I felt sorry for the stall holders, as the only money they can have made, would have been from other stall holders or from exhibitors like us. Despite having had a bacon butty for my breakfast (with ww bread), and wearing 6 layers of clothing under my coat, I was so cold and miserable by lunchtime, I succumbed to a large pasty, and a small slice of bread pudding.......
The main arena had all sorts of demos going on all day, but many were cancelled - the birds of prey wont fly in the weather that presented itself, and many of the vintage cars, couldn't even get onto the show ground due to the conditions underfoot. But us dog folk are made of sterner stuff and carry on regardless.....even if there is no one watching!
I tell a lie. Himself.com counted a total of 6 people around the huge arena, although when pressed, admitted he'd included himself in that number...
Usually we do a gun dog parade after the demos, show casing all the different breeds, and then people come over and ask any questions to the owners of those breeds that interest them. To that end we do the parade at around 3.15pm, to allow plenty of time before close of show at 5.30pm. If I tell you we were back in the 'van by 4 o/c having given up the ghost, you will have some idea of just how dead it was!

Thankfully the 'van has a great heating system and even though it was lovely and toasty, we were chilled to the bone. 'Dinner' (neither of us had the energy to cook) consisted of two huge sausage rolls (himself.com), and two small quiche type things, which were allegedly stilton and broccoli (me), and were so shallow, the filling was debatable! Having taken the dogs out so they could let off steam, we settled them down for the night, before tidying up and once again, falling into bed exhausted.

Day two was better weather wise, although it was a lot windier than the previous day, and the many rain and hail showers were blown away fairly quickly, allowing the sun to peep through between the many downpours.
Thankfully people braved the weather and came out in their droves, many of them making a day of it and enjoying all the things the show had to offer.

We decided to buy our lads a McDonalds on the way home as a treat (and cos neither of us could face cooking) and a thank you for looking after the dogs that stayed home.
I am pleased to report that I had a ww meal when I got in - although I will admit to having a slurp of Himself.com's milkshake!

If you've made it this far - thanks.
I don't know what to make of my eating this weekend, I thought I had planned well, but it went out the window!

I've got a show this weekend too - which reminds me I have dogs to groom/trim/bath, and I do have a plan for that - let just hope I stick to it!!