Hey Ho, The Wind and The Rain!

 Saturday 4th April. 9.30 a.m. So, Easter is here. It doesn't seem like more than a few days since Christmas. The months in between Christmas and Easter have sped by at a rate of knots. The clocks have changed and the weather is fine, but apparently, there is a storm brewing. This one is called Dave, but, with a name like that, it sounds as if it's some sort of April Fool's joke, or something in a sitcom. Remember in 'Only Fools and Horses,' when Trigger insists on calling Rodney Dave, for no apparent reason. Similarly, this really sounds like a made-up name. Then I have to ask, why give a storm a name? What on earth do they need to give them names? I suspect it's to make them seem less powerful, a personality. But they're not creatures, animals or in any way, shape or form, living beings. Someone will, no doubt, tell me the reasoning for such naming. Why give storms a name? It has no purpose. Just unnecessary. But they will continue to do it anyway.

3.45 p.m. The weather is changing rapidly. The day started off sunny, but now it has become overcast, and the wind has begun. It appears it will develop into quite a strong storm. Typical, since it is the long Easter weekend. Well, it would, wouldn't it? It's almost traditional for a Bank Holiday to have miserable weather, strong winds and lashing rain.

I've been go the doctors to have my annual review, a check up for my heart, weight, and all the rest of what they term 'obs.' I have to have a blood test, so an appointment has been made, but, after the last time I had one, and the three attempts to extract blood and having to go to the blood department at the hospital, where they managed to somehow get blood out of my arm. No, not blood out of a stone, but very nearly. The doctor wanted me to do a blood pressure test once a day for a week, and I thought, that's easy enough. I already had my own blood test device, purchased from our good old friends at Amazon. It had batteries in it, ready to be used. It was in a drawer in the lounge, so I got it out and attempted to use it. You won't believe it when I tell you, it didn't work, after only one use, which was well over a year ago. Dead, almost as the proverbial door nail. I was not impressed. I then asked the lady who is currently standing in for our regular S.H.O., here at Dexter House, and she said she'd help with the blood pressure device, but it gave a very high reading, which would have been quite dangerous if it were correct. So, I gritted my teeth and went on the Amazon website, with the intention of buying another machine. I found one which was more expensive than the others on there, has a rechargeable battery which means it can be charged via a cable, similar to so many modern devices, such as mobile phones and cameras, and meaning you don't need to go out and buy batteries each time the thing has no power. It also has an app, which means you can store your data on it and thus have a record so the doctor can see your blood pressure readings. Which was the whole idea of all this in the first place. is used by the N.H.S, which makes it more reliable if it gets that sort of recommendation. If the N.H.S. uses the model, then it must be fairly good.. It is an OxiPro BP2. It seems to be so much easier to use than the run of themill blood pressure device that uses a cuff and is difficult to use if you are on your own, as I am, and have nobody to help. It costs around £40 on Amazon. It took several attempts to get it to work, but I found a helpful video on YouTube, giving you instructions on its use, because, as usual these days, devices such as this rarely give a comprehensive manual to instruct you on setting the thing up and operating it. So, there you have it, my review of the machine. It's neat and tidy in its design,looks the part and seems efficient and works well.

The Whirligig of Time

 Easter Sunday. 7.40 a.m. It's Easter Sunday morning.

The clocks have changed. We are now, officially at any rate, in Summer. 

 As I look out of the window, I can see that there's fog covering Oldbrook. It's not particularly thick, but it's still foggy. I expect, as the day progresses and the sun comes out, it will clear.

Bank Holiday Monday. 7.25 a.m. I got up a good deal later than usual. It's relatively bright and sunny. 

I'm shocked by the number of potholes around Milton Keynes. I went into the centre of the City the other day and I unfortunately drove over a large pothole. I couldn't avoid it, and I was somewhat concerned that it would damage the car in some way.

Tuesday. 10.10 a.m. Another trip to Sainsbury's. I don't normally go on a Tuesday, which means it was easy enough to find a space to park. I suppose most people shop later in the week, on a Friday or Saturday. The 'up' travelator wasn't working, which meant, at the end of my shop, I had to go down via the lift.

I was more than ever aware of the number of potholes in the road as I drove to and from Sainsbury's. It seems to be getting far worse and it won't just me who has found this problem. If I damage my car from driving through a pothole I shall not be very pleased and I would expect compensation from Milton Keynes Council if my car is damaged.

Wednesday. 6.40 a.m. It's another mild and pleasant morning. As far as I can see, there's no fog.

Yesterday evening, just as I was starting my evening meal, I got post. I don't think there's been a post-delivery so late in the day. There was a time when you could more or less tell the time by the postman delivering. We had a delivery at around 7 a.m., and then a second one at around 11 a.m. It would seem that now they only deliver when they want to, with no sort of reliability. Anyway, I picked up the post and one of the letters was from Central Milton Keynes Medical Centre. Having read it, I was shocked that it was telling me off for missing my appointment. I think I mentioned this appointment in an earlier post. I didn't know whether it was a face-to-face or telephone appointment. I did put a message on the website, asking me which form the appointment would take. I didn't get a response before the appointment time. So, in that respect, it's as much their fault that I didn't go for that appointment. I have to say, it makes me feel like a naughty child, the way they had to write a letter to me. Why not merely ring me? Well, that's far to easy.

Thursday. 6.20 a.m. I have taken Alfie out. There was a thin rain falling. Not really rain in the normal sense. Having come inside the flat, I sat down and started using my laptop and there was suddenly an almighty rainstorm outside, (just as well it was outside!) It didn't last long, but it was very noisy and violent.

Naughty Alfie!

Alfie has been in trouble! It's because he barks too much. I got a note thorough the door of the flat, from Barbara, who is the  S.H.O. (Sheltered Housing Officer) of Dexter House. Apparently someone (I have a fairly good idea who) says that they don't like Alfie barking. Well, he is a dog and dogs bark. It's hilarious if it weren't so pathetic. I have to take him out early in the morning. Well, all dogs need their walk, and it's important, nay, vital, for him to be able to relieve himself (do I have to go into precise detail? I don't think so.) Whenever I am preparing to take him out, I have to get my outdoor shoes on and generally arrange myself and Alfie soon picks up on this (which I think I have described in earlier blog posts. Because of the current pandemic situation, with 'social distancing,' we aren't supposed to meet one another and I imagine Barbra would have told me face-to-face. I think it's the fact that this 'person' didn't come and face me over this issue which annoys me. There is always someone why likes to stir up problems, not that it's a problem. I have to carry Alfie out (which can be difficult because he doesn't like it and wriggles somewhat.) which generally prevents his barking. There's really no more to be said about it. Dogs have doggy ways and that's the end of it! More or less.

Let me make it quite clear that Alfie is NOT naughty! He's the best little dog you could wish for and has been an amazing support to me as I coped with Carol going from her cancer diagnosis to her passing away. I don't know whether he misses her, it's difficult to know if he does or doesn't, but he's so affectionate and caring. Yes, of course he barks a lot, but only really when he gets excited. So, if it upsets someone, that's not my problem but theirs and, anyway, his barking doesn't last long and it's only because he gets excited.

(Thursday) It's getting very boring. But life goes on. It is 6.28a.m. as I write this. I am up, having had a shave (my day can't begin until this is done.) and sitting here in the lounge with Alfie staring at me on the sofa as he wants to go out, but I am reluctant to do so as he makes a noise as soon as I start to get ready to go out, so it will be a further half an hour or so.

(Later) I went onto Facebook to watch Ross doing the daily devotional, but I couldn't see the complete devotional because the screen went blank after barely 10 minutes, I think because of the internet connection. I imagine the internet is being stretched to it's limits and far beyond because of the current coronavirus situation and people being on lockdown and being at home and therefore (presumably) using the internet more than normal. As a result I gave up and took Alfie out for a walk around Oldbrook Green and when I got back I managed to sign in to Facebook and watch the recorded devotional. Just a bit frustrating but at least I managed to finish it completely. I just hope the same thing doesn't happen tonight with the Zoom communion we have planned.

Later Still. It would appear that the lockdown is going to continue. Under legislation, the government has to review the restrictions on such things as social distancing every 3 weeks and that time runs out next Thursday.

(Friday) Good Friday, in fact, but it really doesn't seem like Easter. It always seems to creep up on us virtually unannounced. It's not like Christmas, which has been hijacked by all and sundry and been over-commercialised. I think, because of the current situation with the coronavirus pandemic, things seem as if they're on hold.

I haven't been using my Canon detail SLR camera for somewhere, in fact, since Carol passed away. We used to take our cameras everywhere with us whenever we went visiting National Trust, English Heritage or Historic Houses Association properties and my computer has thousands of photographs on it, so many that many are stored on the cloud. I have been out and taken photographs using the telephoto lens in an attempt to get shots of the little robin which seems to follow me around and always sits and sings it's little heart out in the tree which over-hangs the path which Alfie and I walk along as we make our way to Oldbrook Green several times a day. I can't take the camera with me when I have Alfie as it's virtually impossible to get him to stand still and, holding and focussing a camera with a dog in tow is difficult, so I have to take him back to the flat first and collect the camera and return, with the hope that birdie hasn't flown away. The results are somewhat disappointing, but, at least I try. I had an idea for a photographic essay. Well, I think that's the term I mean, I would take photographs with my digital camera, in and around Oldbrook Green, on the subject of 'Spring.' I would take shots of buds, blossom, leaves, daffodils and then upload them onto Facebook. Which I did, not entirely successfully, as I couldn't set the camera so that I could get sharp close-ups of the items I chose, but eventually I got the settings correct and then, when I got back to the flat, I took out the card from the camera and put it into the MacBook, but for some strange reason the shots on the card would not upload.

Even More Irritations of Life

Why do supermarkets have to keep moving their stock around their stores? I don't mean by putting it in trolleys and shifting it manually. I mean, when you, as a customer, get used to finding a particular product in the same place week after week, and then, for no accountable reason, they move it to entirely different aisle and shelf. This usually happens before Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, Mothering Sunday or any of the other 'festivals' or 'holidays' throughout the year. They seem to think it's fine to fill the shelves with stuff you can perfectly well do without, such as mince pies, Christmas puddings, crackers and so on, and whatever product you wanted is suddenly shifted to a remote corner without any warning.

Poor customer service is another irritation I can't stand. When I was at Milton Keynes hospital on Sunday I went to the branch of Costa they have in the newly refurbished entrance foyer (if that's the right term. I know hotels and theatres have foyers, so what is the entrance of a hospital called? Is there a correct word? Probably is, but I'm not sure what it is.) The queue was coming out of the door and into the corridor. I had to wait about 20 minutes before I could get served. A woman in front was fiddling with her mobile phone. What is it with people? Why is everyone so hooked on their mobile phones? Constantly peering at the little screens, looking at Facebook or Twitter, checking to see if someone has contacted them. Anyway, by the time I got to the till I had almost lost the will to live. I had taken a panini out of the display cabinet at the beginning of the queue and handed it to the girl at the till and paid for that as well as two drinks, I think they were lattes, but I forget now. Anyway, the girl I handed the panini to was going to heat it for me. Is that a microwave that heats the food or is it some other sort of oven? Whatever it was it did it's job efficiently and quickly. I had said I wanted to take the food away with me, but the girl put it on a plate. She had such a look on her face, it was as if I'd made some rude suggestion to her. More likely she didn't want to be working there, and particularly not on a Sunday. It wasn't so much the scowl on her face, but the fact that she hadn't listened to me when I'd said I wanted to take away the food I had ordered. THAT was the irritating part of this whole incident. She had such a look on her face, as I say, no doubt because she had drawn the short straw of having to work her shift on a Sunday. And who can blame her? Just didn't make for a very pleasant customer experience as far as I was concerned. Anyway, she made some sort of effort to place the two pieces of panini she had cut so nicely on a chopping board into a cleverly-designed cardboard container and handed it to me and I was able to walk back to the ward and devour the food and share the lattes with Carol. Just another of life's little irritations, when things should be better but aren't. Staff in such places can make all the difference to your experience, particularly at the checkout in the supermarket. If they scowl at you, as that young lady did in Costa, it can be a rather negative experience and put you off shopping there at a later date.

Crazy Advertising

You're watching television, probably your favourite drama series. It's on a channel which has advertising. The action gets exciting and then suddenly- bang!- there's a commercial break. The whole storyline is interrupted by stupid advertising for sofas, car insurance or shampoo. So why do these advertisements have to be so facile? I'm not saying that every advert on television is poor, because there are one or two which are actually very clever and creative. But around 95% are just downright insulting and embarrassing. I realise that companies like ITV rely on advertising for their funding, but why do so many adverts have to be so awful? There are a few that have become classics, such as the Guinness one which has horses representing waves in the sea and perhaps the one for Hovis shot on a hill and spoofed by The Two Ronnies and made by Ridley Scott the director. But those are few and far between.  It can be said that making a television commercial is a very good way for a director to learn his craft. You have to be able to tell a story in a very short space of time, probably no more than 30 seconds. And make sure the viewer knows what brand your advert is for. Otherwise it's not going to be much use in selling that product.

Why do companies like Compare The Market and Confused.com have to use stupid characters to draw you in? The Alexander The Meerkat maybe a funny cuddly character and the animation may be clever and witty but it really has very little to do with car insurance or any other insurance. The annoying operatic singer who heads up the Confused.com advertising is little more than an annoyance and, frankly, would put me off using their products. Do they really think people will flock to them if they use this sort of tactic? If you buy Compere The Market and take whatever product it is they sell you're supposed to get a free meerkat toy or free cinema tickets. Do you necessarily get a good deal on these comparison websites? I can't work out how these companies make their money, but it must be something to do with getting some commission from the actual insurance companies if you buy insurance from them. They don't actually provide the insurance themselves. I think the fact that there's a funny furry character and that you can get a toy if you sign up is just to appeal to children who are supposed to have quite a lot of influence on what product people buy. Look along the breakfast cereal aisle in any supermarket and it seems that most breakfast cereals are aimed at children. Full of sugar, many of them, but if you look at the packaging they have free gifts quite obviously aimed at children. The same with companies such as McDonald's who seem to aim a lot of their fast food at children with lots of free gifts if you buy such-and-such a meal. No wonder there's a real problem with child obesity.

Sofa adverts are another bugbear we have in this household. How is it these companies are always having sales? Do they ever sell their sofas at full price and why are they always advertising just before Christmas or Easter and then say 'order now in time for Christmas?' Does it mean that their customers buy a new sofa (what happens to the old one? Is there a huge pile of ancient sofas in a warehouse somewhere? Redundant, unwanted, unloved? All because their former owners don't want them any more and need a new one 'just in time for Christmas?') Are their owners so fickle and pathetic that they have to show off with a new sofa at Christmas? And why, from seeing these adverts, are the sofas they show, so awful and ugly? Why do they always have a stupid woman advertising who has a high-pitched voice that drives you nuts and probably attracts all the dogs in the neighbourhood? Is she a former R.A.D.A. student-actress who can't find a better acting job? Although I imagine doing a television ad like that pays quite well, but it wouldn't look good on her C.V. when she applies for work at the National Theatre or R.S.C.

Visiting Grandson George

It's a good many months since we were at George, my grandson's christening in Claines, near Worcester. We had to wait until the Easter holidays to be able to plan another visit. A good two-hour drive there needs a certain amount of organisation. We'd bought him some clothes in Sainsbury's a few weeks ago as well as a chocolate rabbit in Morrison's on Sunday. A difficult decision as regards an Eater treat of some sort, whether to get him an Easter egg, something made from chocolate, or a rabbit (gold paper wrapped with a little golden bell on a red ribbon around it's neck.) so the bunny won. Duly loaded the car, SatNav installed, camera, mobile phone and all the other paraphernalia. Car fuelled up on Sunday, which saved us some time. Not able to see Chloe or George until after 2 p.m. 

We needed something to eat mid-journey. We needed to find a suitable place to eat something. We needed to go to buy sandwiches or at least something suitable. We went to Asda. As it turned out it wasn't such a good idea, unfortunately. It was around 10.30 when we got there and the place was heaving. What is it that makes people behave in a sort of siege mentality whenever there's any sort of public holiday? Easter, Christmas, New Year, or whatever? We picked up the sandwiches we wanted off the shelves, and a few crisps and other snacks and then went to pay. Every till in what is a really huge supermarket seemed busy, with long queues with customers pushing trolleys which were over-loaded with goods. Most tills had people already being checked through but with large amounts of goods on the conveyor belts. We stood in one queue and it seemed to take forever for it to move. It was no good moving to another or even going to a self-service checkout as all dozen or so were busy, with people waiting. No express tills either (do they have these in Asda? I don't think so. Or a self-scan system which I've seen in Tesco and I know Waitrose have as we've used ourselves. It does cut down on queuing.) Anyway, the woman on the till we were using seemed as if she was on a go-slow. Not making much effort to speed herself up. I don't think she could, even if she tried. By the time we'd paid and walked out, it was near enough 11 o'clock. I would have left a good deal earlier but Carol insisted we leave around 10-11. We followed the SatNav's directions and for some strange reason we went via Buckingham, but made a really different detour and followed a road we'd never been on before. It usually takes us a completely different way. We got to the M40 and then onto the M5. The whole journey was taking a good deal longer than anticipated. We had hoped to arrive at Claines at around 1.45, but we got held up in long queues of traffic and didn't arrive until around 2.40.

Unfortunately we weren't at Claines very long. We did go for a walk with Chloe and George. He's walking well and into everything, as all children of his age.We walked as far as the sports ground, with George exploring everything on the way, mainly drains and inspection covers and putting stones and sticks into various holes he hound on the way. We were surprised when Steve appeared. I wasn't aware that he worked from home. He made us a cup of tea and we sat and chatted while George played. We sat in the garden and saw their newly-laid lawn. Made of decent turf, unlike our uneven excuse for a lawn.

Around 5.15 Chloe announced that they had to go and collect her car from being repaired from the garage. It was by then that we decided on leaving, unfortunately, as we knew it was a long drive home. It was just as well we did leave when we did, because by the time we hit the M5 towards Birmingham the traffic was building up. We journeyed back towards the M6 and the M1 and finally back towards Milton Keynes. We were somewhat surprised that the roadworks along the M1 south near Daventry is still continuing. It was this area where we broke down in the car a year or two ago. A somewhat traumatic experience, as you might expect. We were rescued by a breakdown truck as we had gone into the coned-off area. Not an experience either of us would want to repeat in a hurry. It seems the roadworks have been going on for much too long. What is annoying is that the part of the Motorway which is coned off has no work going on, or at least from what we could see. Why they can't open up more and allow the traffic to flow properly, instead of having such long stretches coned off, and expecting drivers to travel at no more than 50 M.P.H. seems crazy. We arrived home at around 7.15.

890th blog post! . . . Car Problem . . . Solved!

I rang O.K. Garage just after 9 this morning. I described the noise and the lady said that someone would come to see the car later during the morning. As good as her word she rang again to say that someone was on their way. A van drew up abut ten minutes later and I tried the car to let them hear the unpleasant grinding noise. They said they'd take it away and find out what the problem was. I wasn't sure that they heard the sound, but as soon as they drove out of the drive I heard it quite distinctly. About half-an-hour later they called me to say they'd found the problem. The front coil-springs were corroded or something. The same things that were replaced when the car was Mot's a few weeks ago. I'm now a bit annoyed that these weren't spotted needing attention at that time. It's going to cost around £200, but I told them to go ahead and do the work, even though we wouldn't be able to pay for the work until Friday. There's no rush for the car to come back as we can manage without it until then. At least if it's roadworthy again we can get out and about next week when Carol is on Holiday for Easter. We have some trips organised so at least we can use the car, hopefully. Just another expense we don't need, but it's one of the things you have to contend with when you have a car. 

On Friday I can walk down to Peartree Bridge where O.K. Garage is situated to collect the car. It is about a ten-minute walk along the Redway from home. At least having a garage so close, it's easy to reach without to many problems.

I'm more than certain that the problems with the car are caused by all the potholes and speed-bumps around here. I may have mentioned this before, but the condition of the roads in and around Milton Keynes are a disgrace. For a modern city it's appalling that the roads are so pot-holed. The local authority should be hanging their heads in shame letting the roads get so bad. It's not doing anyone's car's sub-frame any good, having to drive over so many rough surfaces. Goodness only knows what it does to the tyres and axels of your car and it's no wonder the coil springs on our vehicle have needed to be replaced. If you remember from my earlier post where I mentioned the damage a jolt in a pothole had on our car when we returned from a visit to Ascott a couple of years ago and the fact it set of the alarm which is connected to what is called the E.S.P. device (Electronic Stability Programme.) and how we had to get it repaired a great expense. I think the Council around here should pay compensation when your vehicle is damaged in this way. Or if not, spend more on getting the road surfaces around here bought up to a decent standard. Unfortunately, the more sophisticated cars become, with such things as this E.S.P. thing, computer-assisted mechanical devices, remote door opening, sliding doors (which our car has.) and so on and so forth, then there's far more to go wrong and cause untold problems.

The last couple of days have started off foggy and cold, but as the days have continued we've had some sunshine. It was like that yesterday, but it's a good deal more over-cast this morning. I think the sun is making a vain attempt to shine as I write this.

Daniel is returning home tomorrow.  He has a job interview on Friday, well, I think it's Friday. Somewhere in Bletchley. I have been clearing space in the spare room, which has been used as something of a dumping ground for all manner of items. We'll have to collect him from the bus station as he's coming back from Newcastle by coach. Carol says we can order a taxi cab and go over to collect him then. Not entirely sure what time he's due in.

Easter Bank Holiday Monday: Walking The Dogs At Salcey Forest

Today was Easter Monday Bank Holiday, Carol's last day of the Easter Holiday. We had considered going for a swim at the gym this morning, but in the end we decided that the dogs would appreciate being taken for a walk. We haven't taken them out for quite a while, due mainly because of the weather. It was foggy when I looked out of the window and actually quite nippy. If we were going to take the dogs anywhere in the car we would need to take the cage for Alfie which was in the house and it was necessary to get it out without him seeing as he gets particularly overwrought (to say the least. He becomes like the Tasmanian Devil when he knows we're planning a walk.) I got the dogs in the bedroom and closed the door on them and managed to get out to the car with the cage and inside the back without Alfie knowing. But as soon as the dogs were eventually let out of the bedroom Alfie seemed to have some idea of what we were planning and started charging around the house, barking noisily. We wanted to take the digital camera and had purchased new batteries to put it it, but, during the recent cleaning, which we did prior to the house inspection, these batteries got mislaid. After some searching we found them and I managed to put them into the camera. It is absolutely no use having a digital camera with flat batteries. We have had rechargeable batteries for our three cameras, but they are not virtually useless and don't seem to hold a charge. I suppose they do have a limited life and being at least six years old I imagine they are at the end of their lives. I'm not sure how many times they have been recharged but that's not bad if that is how old they are, so buying a set of batteries that aren't rechargeable seemed rather a waste of money but we just wanted a set to allow us to use the Fuji camera. Carol suggested I keep Alfie while she got Poppy into her harness in the kitchen and it took me some effort to keep hold of him and he managed to scratch me with his claws as he was getting more and more excited, barking and making a lot of noise. Poppy is generally no problem to sort out with her harness, but Alfie . . .

We got him into the car and had next to get some change as the carpark at Salcey Forest isn't free and you need change to feed the meter there, as we discovered some while ago and this seems to be the norm at several of the places we take the dogs for walks, particularly Rushmere and the nearby     Park near Leighton Buzzard. We drove towards the A5 and went to get a coffee at the new drive-in Starbucks which meant we would have sufficient change for parking once we got to Salcey.

The sun was struggling to make an appearance and as it was now around 9 a.m. we thought that the fog would soon clear.

When we got to Salcey Forest the carpark was virtually empty. It seemed that our early start to the day had paid off. Being a Bank Holiday we had taken into consideration that everyone else would be out and about, particularly as it was a warm and sunny day.

Then we found that it was going to cost £3 to park the car for more than three hours. I went into the cafe which is near the carpark. Generally very good as we've been there in the winter months when it it open and have very nice soup on cold and frosty days. I had a £5-note and bought a packet of Polo mints and took it to the till to pay. The girl who was on the till said 'do you have anything less?' to which I replied that I hadn't and the change was for the carpark. Then another woman who worked in the cafe said 'we don't give change for the carpark.' Which seemed a rather stupid thing to say, because if they wanted customers, then they would need people to come in a car and if they couldn't provide change for parking, then people would drive off and not park and take their money elsewhere. I'm not bothered about paying for parking provided the money is used to keep the facilities maintained. The toilets at the site were closed for maintenance, and were replaced by temporary toilets, so I imagine money made from car parking went towards the cost of that, also, keeping the surface of the roads within the forest and the actual carpark in top condition. They can be very bad, and during one occasion when we went we got the car stuck in a very muddy puddle.

Anyway, we went for a very enjoyable walk with the dogs, and by the time we got back with them to the car the place had filled up with more cars and people, and lots of other dogs which our two made friends with.