A slow start after a late night and then out for training with an enthusiastic Sam.
A slow start after a late night and then out for training with an enthusiastic Sam.

A slow start after a late night and then out for training with an enthusiastic Sam. More administration and financial transactions later and much of the afternoon and evening watching the England Test Cricket. Making other arrangements with Nigel, Jim and Brian

I ended up staying up and watching television far too late so as not retiring to bed until well after midnight. This made me feel quite tired this morning so that I had trouble in getting going. The girls went happily back to school and Daniel to work and then I took Sam out with snow on the ground for his exercise.

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I had intended to just exercise him and then hole up until later but, having got out, Sam was quite enthusiastic and so I gave him some paddling retrieves and then some quartering across the Little Meadow stubble field. He did quite well on these and so I took him across to the derelict land near the coating plant but, though he searched hard, he could not find a pheasant where there was one yesterday. We ended with some heel-work across the village paths as we returned home quite tired.

I was making some progress with the recall and presentation of the dummy by offering Sam some titbits if he came straight to me and sat nicely so that I no longer have to stoop. I rewarded Sam with a spell inside my office on a blanket once I had dried him off and he sat there quietly as I worked on at my desk. More administration to get through as I cancelled some Abbey National instructions and substituted some Norwich & Peterborough ones instead. I accompanied Diana into St Neots to put some of the transactions into effect after lunch at Brackenbury's.

Much of the afternoon and evening watching the England Test Cricket but I did manage to give the exposed walls of the downstairs shower room a couple of coats of sealer so that I can do some tiling when it has dried. Phone calls to Nigel to organise some pigeon shooting for tomorrow afternoon, to Jimmy to set up some dog-training for Saturday and to Brian Guinee to schedule some computer work for next Monday night.