A 'Shaggy Dog' Story

Off work and feeling crap (headache, earache and dizziness) I've taken the opportunity to look through an old box of kodachrome slides, and found these - taken (probably 1987) on Kinder Scout (the middle one may be Bleaklow) .

The dog is 'Waddy'. A previous 'wandering' companion and an engagement present. Deanne got engaged, and I got a dog. Sorry, for the sake of my marriage, I'll rephrase that - We got engaged, I bought Deanne a ring and she bought me a dog.

Waddy came from a rescue home in Cheadle, Staffs. He was a stray, had been straying for a long time and was in a bad state when we got him. The name on his collar (when he was found) was 'Ricky'. Not a good name for a dog IMO, and a name that he didn't answer to - he needed a new one.

When we collected him he staggered out of the kennel, (and with some help) climbed up onto the back seat of my Morris Marina, curled up on a blanket, fell asleep and immediately farted.

Deanne passed some comment about how similar the event was to that of me - when on occasions where I had had 'one to many' - I would leave the pub and stagger home to bed. Upon which I decided to rename him 'Wadworth (6x)' after one of my favourite beers - a name (which after many years of friendship) he didn't answer to either!

Back to the pictures - Kinder was a favourite haunt of ours - I could drop Deanne off for a shift at Stafford Hospital at 7am and be in Derbyshire and walking on the hills before 9am. Being young and fit, the dog and I would often cover 20 miles or more of Kinder bog, have time for a beer (me), some frolic and a mars bar (him), and still manage to get home (soon after Deanne's shift had finished) in time for supper.

I remember one occasion when I got stopped for speeding - Rushing to get to the hills, I was accelerating prematurely when reaching the end of the 30mph zone through Dove Holes. I hadn't yet reached 40mph (my Marina wouldn't go much faster than that anyway - unless I was going downhill with a tail wind and all 4 doors open) and (being the good old days of the 'English Bobby') the copper asked me where I was heading? If I knew what the speed limit was? If I knew what speed I was doing? And whether the dog, travelling on the front seat, had a death wish? Then (without issuing a ticket) he waved me away with an 'enjoy your day and please drive more carefully'

Happy days :-)