The Adventures of Fripp

  Well we’ve had quite a busy day today. We had a lovely walk on the beach first thing and then headed off to church. It’s Good Shepherd Sunday today and we had Archdeacon Martin come to speak to us. Nix thought he was very very good but I’m afraid I slept right through, even when Nix went up for communion. After the service we all had lunch together prepared for us by the lovely Lesley who if you remember brought Nix’s lunch over to her when she had Covid. You won’t be able to see me by the way as I’m under the table. I got a lot of compliments for being so well behaved and not begging. Frances let me lick her plate clean, Nix would never let me do that…it was shepherd’s pie 😋 We have a Good Shepherd banner at the front of church and for a donation you can put someone’s name on there. Nix put her mum’s name on there a while back, Nora Winifred. No one knows who that is so finally I am going on there and I expect Nix will want her name too. Chris Diebel who makes all our banners s...

 I’ve had a rather agreeable day today and it would be lovely to show you photos but Nix forgot her phone again. Luckily she took one on the beach this morning and we’ve been for a jaunt into town this afternoon so she took a couple there. It was like a summer’s day, all the cafés were full and everyone seemed to be in a very happy mood. Nix met lots of friends on the way so all in all a very nice day. We don’t have photos of our lunchtime walk and that’s a shame because we went to Southwick Hill. The Rapeseed is very tall now, I can’t see over the top of it and I’m not allowed to go too close to it because it’s poisonous for dogs. Nix thinks the farmer put it there on purpose to keep all the dogs away because there are a lot. It’s very popular for the dog walkers and they often let their dogs run across the crops which I’m not allowed to do even if it’s not poisonous.  I slept in Nix’s room again last night and I only woke up once…to be sick. I’m afraid I managed to get it on...

Well we had our meditation this morning at St Mary de Haura and I had just got lovely and comfortable in my bed when Nix had one of her coughing fits. She knew it would get worse so we had to go outside so Nix could cough to her hearts content. She was coughing and sneezing and her nose was running and she was nearly sick…so embarrassing. She could have just lest me asleep in the church and only embarrassed herself. Anyway she’s better now so hopefully she won’t get another one.  We collected our friend Trish who needed to get to church to collect some stuff and then we went home for a nice rest. I slept right through til quite late this afternoon.  Nix had said that we might go to the secret wood in Goring so I set my internal alarm clock for when the sun finally came out. I love it in those woods, they’re not really secret, it’s just the way Nix likes to think of them.  It was a bit muddy but I managed to avoid that and we ended up going down to the beach to watch the k...

 Nix typed out the whole blog and then went to look for a photo and instead of saving the blog, FB had deleted it…she’s not amused. Anyway I’ve gone to bed so she’ll have to try and remember what I dictated. It was mainly the fact that she didn’t take any photos this morning on the beach because she knew we would be going to Brooklands Park this afternoon. We did go to Brooklands Park but Nix forgot to take her phone  so we don’t have any photos from there either. The café was coming on well and we hope it will be open for the summer so that’s good news but other than that there’s not a lot to tell. Nix wanted to explain about the vibrating collar because a few people were worried. It’s not the same as an anti bark collar, it just vibrates very gently. Nix will put it next to my leg and as long as it doesn’t frighten me I can wear it properly. I am learning hand signals and I’ve learned ‘wait’ and ‘come this way’ but I do have to be looking at Nix when she does the signals hen...

Today was the last of our busy days so I’m preparing to relax…quite a lot. When I say relax I was meaning for the rest of today, as of tomorrow I’m expecting good long walks possibly to the Bluebird Café. I like it there because there are lots of dogs to meet on the way and they have huge iced buns which are always too much for Nix so I get quite a bit of them.  Beth came to visit today and she and Nix had a bit of a hair day…I slept throughout but guess what? After Nix dropped. Beth off at the station, guess where we went…Buckingham Park 🙂We decided it was ridiculous not to go there just because the BCJ lives near there now. Nix reckons she’ll always see him before I do but I’m not so sure. I can take off down that park at quite a rate and Nix can’t keep up. She calls me but of course I can’t hear her any longer 😉  With regard to my ‘deafness’ Nix is looking at collars that vibrate but she hasn’t found the right one yet. They sell some that are meant to help stop dogs barki...

 Quite a busy day today starting off with the café at church. We had two new visitors which was very nice but I slept for most of it. When we got home we couldn’t get onto our drive because the gas men had filled the hole in the road but put the barriers in the wrong place. Nix had to carry all the café stuff and my bed from round the corner where we had to park. She called them and they came and fixed it straight away.  After I’d gone to sleep Nix snuck into town and as she was walking along the pavement by a bus stop this big bus swung in to park and the front end of the bus nearly knocked Nix over. As the doors opened Nix told the driver that she had pushed her along with the bus and the driver was very rude to Nix. She refused to accept that she’d come too close to the pavement even though everyone waiting for the bus had seen it. Nix said if she’d said sorry and asked if she was okay she’d have left it there but she didn’t so Nix took a photo and has written to the bus co...

 I got a parrot today…not a real one of course because I would never catch a real one. Sheila and Ron came to visit with the gorgeous Willow and I got a stuffed parrot. I really really like it and I got a packet of treats too which I am looking forward to. We were all going to walk down by the houseboats and on to the airport but it started to drizzle and you know what humans are like with the rain. We did see the houseboats but then we turned round and came home and the humans had pastries from the local bakery. They then spent some time putting the world to rights while I got lots of extra cuddles from Sheila and Ron. I did get up on the sofa too for extra cuddles from Nix.  They have gone now and I miss Willow already so I’ve gone to bed as Nix has been trying to get me to respond to a stupid whistle. Yes of course I can hear it when she blows it but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop what I’m doing and return to her. She’ll need more than a whistle to drag me away from a ...

 This morning I woke Nix up at 6am. She let me out in the garden, I went and had a wee and then I came back in and went back to bed. Nix did the same, well not the wee in the garden obviously and she went back to sleep. I had to wake her up again at 9am and it was all a bit of a rush to get to church on time. I didn’t wake up once in church until after Nix had taken communion and Sally was looking after me anyway. When Nix came back I went straight back to sleep again. After church they had the Annual Parochial Church Meeting which basically means me having another sleep.  After the meeting we went for a little walk on the beach and  I noticed Nix’s poo bags were matching her wellies and in fact her trousers too 🙂 She was very pink 🫢 After our talk on dementia yesterday and how to make our church a dementia friendly church Nix and I thought it might be quite helpful just to mention a couple of things that people with dementia and their carers might find difficult. As I ...

 Last night I spent the whole night in Nix’s bedroom for the first time since she got sick over a month ago. She didn’t cough once and I had a very restful night 🙂 We hadn’t been back from our walk this morning for very long when we were off out again. A lady was coming to our church hall to give a talk on dementia and how we can make our church dementia friendly. Once we achieve that we can display a Forget Me Not sticker on our door…I’d like that.  Tomorrow a company is going to be doing some filming in the church. I think they work for the Church of England and they’ll be mainly interested in filming the altar and things. They told the congregation that they may just get tha back of their heads but I don’t think they realise they have a Beardie star in their midst. I of course am very experienced in being filmed as you well know. I shall see if I can find one of my videos but you must ignore Nix waffling on like she knows everything about Beardies, I mean…who knows everyth...

  Nix just found out where the BCJ has moved to…she’s not very happy, it’s less than a mile away 🫢 Honestly Nix never thought anyone would sell a house almost on top of the beach to move into town. Even worse they’re now quite close to Buckingham Park where we like to go, Nix says we can’t ever go there again 😕 The funny thing is they have moved next door but one to our friend Rita. Remember she sat with me when Nix was doing the Lent course and we went there on Good Friday to have hot cross buns. If you also remember I tried to knock a dog over on the way there, I think the BCJ must have been in the area and I got confused. Eight months we’ve been waiting for them to move and they decide to move up the road 🤣 You’re probably wondering how we know where they’ve moved to. Well we bumped into one of their neighbours and she told Nix the name of the road. Nix of course was straight onto Rightmove and it’s the only house that’s sold in that road. The only good thing is they have a m...

  So…Nix had nothing planned for today so she decided to take me out later than normal last night so she could have a lay in this morning. As she is still coughing a bit when she wakes up I was able to give her the glare that said, “I don’t like this, take me out now…” We ended up going out to the beach at 7.30am which wasn’t part of Nix’s plan but we all know it’s best not to lay around when you’ve got a cough…walking is much better.  I was forced to wait until gone lunchtime for my next walk because Nix had a package arriving. I wasn’t sure she was telling the truth to be honest and wondered whether she just wanted to laze around. Well a package did arrive so should probably take that back and we eventually set off for Southwick Hill. I had a very good time and I got to go through the wood and up the hill. The rapeseed is very pretty but I’m not allowed to go too close because it’s poisonous to dogs and the skylarks are in there too.  Nix loves her new bed by the way, i...

 Guess what…I have found a new BCJ…a black curly Labrador type jobby, weird looking dog with a very fast wagging tail…I didn’t like him. I stalked him for quite a long time and his tail started going faster and faster. I ran at him with the view to knocking him over but unfortunately I fell over myself. He tried to escape and I took off after him but Nix grabbed my tail on the way past. I am patient, there will be another time 🤗 On to more important things, not only was there no lemon drizzle at Nix’s meeting last night but all the cakes had chocolate in them so I wasn’t allowed any. Nix had a coughing fit in the middle of the meeting and had to leave. She spent five minutes outside coughing and choking with her eyes watering. I think the people waiting at the bus stop must have thought she was drunk. I enjoyed my time with Liz, we watch the TV together.  Today Nix’s friend Sarah has been to visit and it was quite the reunion, it’s been about 15 years since they’ve actually s...