Living Between the Lines,  Puptales

It’s a Mystery

Embarrassing? Or have I cemented my reputation as being the dippiest person in the family?
Hmm.

Let me begin at the beginning, It is still February 2021 as I write…
Flossie was a brave dog. She underwent surgery to remove a nasty tumour from her mouth. In true Flossie style, she is uncomplaining, but the operation means that when she is let out to perform her ablutions, she must be on a lead. There is to be no running into bushes or trying to chew logs (a favourite pastime of hers).

So, early this morning, a Saturday, I came downstairs, still clad in night attire and wearing a dressing gown, intending to let both dogs out for their morning wee. Conscious that I needed to go out with Flossie, I swapped my dressing gown for the coat I had left on a chair by the back door and pulled on my wellingtons, before clipping a lead to Flossie’s collar.

Down the garden we went, following the perimeter of the lawn slowly. Floss likes to sniff her way along. We rounded the dividing hedge and continued following the perimeter, down the slope, until she found a convenient spot in which to wee. Job done, we then continued our walk around the entire garden, right down to the bottom of the slope and back again.
Unclipping Floss’s lead, back in the house, I swapped wellingtons for slippers and looked for my dressing gown…it was nowhere to be seen. I stood in my loungewear, perplexed. I checked behind the chair, under the chair. I checked all the other rooms even though I didn’t remember going into them. Had someone removed it as a joke? I was very confused. Had I not been wearing it at all when I came downstairs? Was I going mad?
I remained confused even when showered and dressed and breakfasted.
It wasn’t long before Floss decided she wanted to go outside again. I clipped on her lead and we did a second tour of the garden. As we turned to go round the hedge, I was astonished, (no other word for it) to see my dressing gown, lying on the grass, half-way down the slope.
I can only surmise that when pulling on my coat, I had somehow snagged my dressing gown in some part of it and it had trailed after me as I walked. But would I not have felt it dragging behind me? The possibility that I had flung it over Charlie and he had run down the garden wearing it, flitted across my mind (unlikely). There is also the possibility that I was carrying it, having forgotten to put it down, as we stepped outside but wouldn’t I have been aware of it?
I suppose I will never know exactly what happened unless one of my neighbours, happened to look out of their bedroom windows this morning and saw me treading down the garden in my wellies and coat, a white towelling dressing gown trailing behind me…trouble is, I am a little too embarrassed to ask!

It’s a mystery!

This of course, will never surpass the tale of the visit to Tiles R Us, now that really was embarrassing!

P.S. Flossie recovered well and is now looking back to her normal self.

Flossie
What operation are you writing about?

I am an Author, wife to one, mother to five and grandmother to six. I live in the English countryside in Hampshire, UK, with my husband and two dogs and am a non exec Director for Glow www.theglowstudio.com.

2 Comments

  • patricia60

    Another wonderful story, even if you were embarrassed. You would fit right in for my neighborhood – It’s the run down to the end of the driveway for the morning papers that makes for the best fashion shows. Robes, boots, running garb, coats over bare, and perfectly wrapped for work. I see it all as I walk Zip in the morning. About 2 years ago, I had to walk a bare bottomed toddler in socks and t shirt back up to his front door as he had escaped right to the road in full glee ! Mom was totally embarrassed that she did not know her young fellow had escaped at all. I chuckle at the event still. Hope you are all healthy and doing well.

    • Debbie

      Hi Patricia, I can just imagine that mother’s face when you turned up at her door with her toddler! Our newspaper and post are delivered through the letterbox in our front door (well, the larger stuff, including weekend papers, are put in a plastic box next to it) Trouble is, Charlie brown thinks it is his job to scare away the postman and that the letters coming through the door are for him. I have lost count of how many corners are ripped etc. We are all healthy, thank you. Dave and I have had one vaccine so await the second now. Hope you are all safe and well there. X

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