Pigeon Shooting with Nigel and then travelling to see the Crufts Gun Dog show and meeting up with GSP friends and colleagues.
News of a second mortar attack by the I.R.A. on Heathrow Airport and this just before the Queen's aircraft was due to land there.
Nigel had told me that he could not manage the pigeon shooting yesterday and so we arranged to go early this morning together. I collected him at 6.00am and, after we dropped off some things at Cambridge Street and his Volvo at Cambridge Street Motors for service, we took off up the A1 and arrived well before 7.00am.
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I set up the decoys but could not tempt them to land but Nigel had more sport walking around the farm and finding a good roosting wood where he bagged 6 pigeons and a jackdaw. I tried an hour there later and bagged one pigeon and should have had several but at least Sam completed a good retrieve on it! The rush home again for Nigel to make his 10.30am meeting and then I had a few snacks and a drink before leaving for the Crufts Gun-Dog Show day.
It was a poor journey as I found that the A14 A1/M1 link was far from completion and the back roads via Market Harborough were very congested. Construction of this major route had been delayed by the inquiry with protesters trying to protect the Naseby battle fields and quite right too. I arrived about lunch time and saw the last of the judging where Madge Simmons won the Best of Breed for the G.S.P.
She has alone managed to produce two Dual Champions for the breed. I met up with Jim Bird, Bob and Linda Steele, Janice Hawkes and many more of my dog-training friends but those that were showing did not do very well and were disappointed. More productive were my visits to the stands where I bought a range of dummies and two dog-training books on the G.S.P.
The journey back was much more straightforward as I took the A45 via Wellingborough. Debbie had been very good and took Sam for a run and fed him for me. A short evening, making diary plans with Diana to see how many dog events I could go to and then having some short conversations with political colleagues about preparations for the May local elections. News of a second mortar attack by the I.R.A. on Heathrow Airport and this just before the Queen's aircraft was due to land there.