Up early and out to drive to The Showground at Retford for the GSP Club Annual Championship Show where Sam came 5th out of his Novice Dog Class of 8 to earn the white rosette for being "Very Highly Commended" but he could only manage a best time of 15 seconds against the winning time of 11 in the scurry.
Percy collected me for the drive to see Ross McKay for a difficult meeting to try to stop him being so undiplomatic, controversial and divisive and we read the riot act.
Then a heart-to-heart with Sally and Brian about her workload after which Wiggly took on the role of LibDem Town Council Group Secretary. Up late watching the results of the EuroElection
I was awake early and had time to give Diana some attention before getting up and out to walk Sam. We had a long drive ahead of us to The Showground at Retford for the GSP Club Annual Championship Show but we got off in reasonable time and the roads were relatively clear.
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The only problem I had was a complete lack of directions in the catalogue and then not even any signs on arrival so that I drove unnecessarily through the town of Retford and then all around the place before I could find it!
The day's event continued in that vein with no signs in the rings identifying which class was in progress and I confess to being rather fed up with these people for being so disorganised. It was good experience for Sam, though, as he had to get used to being benched, examined and crowded together with so many other similar dogs.
He continued his growly and grumpy behaviour which gave me a chance to correct him and do some more obedience work. As to his show performance; he came 5th out of his Novice Dog Class of 8 to earn the white rosette for being "Very Highly Commended".
I felt that this was a gross inflation of praise for a very disappointing performance but then his coat was still in a state in mid-moult and his behaviour and ring-craft was pretty appalling! I had other colleagues whose dogs were thrown out with nothing so that at least Sam has always won certificates for each of his show appearances.
As long as he is regarded as being of good average conformation whilst working well, he is fine for me. I tried him in the scurry, a fun event where each dog has to retrieve a dummy as fast as possible, but he could only manage a best time of 15 seconds against the winning time of 11. The home journey was again all right and so home in time for tea and a rest before this evening's political meetings.
Percy collected me for the drive to see Ross McKay for a difficult meeting to try to stop him being so undiplomatic, controversial and divisive. Percy was very good and did not beat about the bush but told him straight that the bickering had to stop.
I reinforced the point and said that he had to regain the support of his colleagues in order to get re-selected for the Town Council in a year's time and I conceded that there were leadership and organisational problems in the Town Council Liberal Democrat Group which would be tackled so that nobody need feel left out or marginalised.
Then over to Avenue Road where, despite having an unsettled baby Alistair crying all of the time, Percy and I had a heart-to-heart with both Sally and Brian. Sally appreciated that her informal and periodic handling of the group was an underlying problem and Brian voiced his own frustration at having Sally taking on more and more for the party to the disadvantage of his home life and career.
We agreed a possible scenario where Graham Hunt was recruited to the group, Wiggly took on the role of LibDem Town Council Group Secretary, Sally remained group leader but possibly had the help of an impartial and non-voting chairman such as Michael Pope to get things back on the rails. Then by next May, we would introduce a full set of active and moderate councillors to take the organisation forward for the future.
Home late and a bit depressed by these problems but relatively happy at the evening's work. Up late watching the results of the EuroElection which were very good for the Labour Party who won a lot more seats from the Tories including Basildon, home of the "Essex Man".
The LibDems won their first two seats in the West Country and narrowly missed a third but did not get the level of support necessary to make widespread gains along the South Coast.