Yay, it's cheery Friday.

[RIP]

Will head out for a pootle along the Monsal Trail and around Carsington Water.

Very nice, reckon they'll enjoy that. Challenge them to get up Sheep Pasture and Middleton inclines without stopping, that'll sort them out . Camping somewhere?

[benp1]

I'll keep a look out for those, cheers Reg

All the campsites around there are fully booked sadly, I guess everyone is desperate to get out at the moment. If I'm honest the thought of going to a normal campsite isn't high on my wish list, it was only the facilities that would've been useful

We're going to stay in the back of the van, have discovered a (legal and approved) place to park. Will be a quickish stop overnight so we can have more fun in the days either side

[RIP]

[Boab]

Not so cheery round here, as I have received my Termination of Employment due to Redundancy letter. Off into town to buy some beer, gin and whisky...

[fatbikephil]

Hard lines buddy, hope you can sort somat else out.
Pretty cheery for me, first weeks holiday since March and off up north on the Straggler. Nowt special just a couple of days riding up to pals in Speyside, drink some of the local water then spend a couple of days riding back again

[BigdummySteve]

Not so cheery round here, as I have received my Termination of Employment due to Redundancy letter. Off into town to buy some beer, gin and whisky...

Sorry to hear it, working in the entertainment sector I’ve been expecting it for a while, beer and whiskey? Good man this may help if played really loud.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GzHGTIPl310

P.S. I was just about to post my cheery news but I feel slightly insensitive now....

[BigdummySteve]

After a respectful pause for the not so cheery....
The day started off early, 3 hours travelling saw me on the southbank opposite the Tower of London, nice and warm even at 8 AM, cheery as I’m there to inspect the Bridge Theatre’s rigging equipment and flying gear, called the client and found out the call is for 9 AM (theatre types often don’t start until 10 or 11 as they have been up doing shows) relaxed in the early morning sun people watching, pleasant day of work, interrupted by a zoom meeting with the boss. Given that he’d asked us all to attend and we’d lost 20% of our staff previously I was shitting it a little. Turned out we’re ok unless we lockdown again, I’ve been into 3 Theatre spaces in the last two weeks so we might just survive, phew.
Job went well so I was off at 1 PM ( 5 AM start) got a call on the way home, my frame is ready at the powder coaters
Just managed to pick it up before they closed at 4, nice job it’s slightly more interesting than the original paint scheme

Also the postie delivered some wheel building tools and fork seals, I’m nearly there, just waiting for a rim and seal driver.

Oh and I have some nice ice cold IPA,s

[JohnClimber]

Cheery news.

On the last Friday on the month, no word from work about going back from furlough....

On the plus side.... No going back to work at least for the start of August......

[voodoo_simon]

Was going to to go up Y Garn for a camp but I couldn’t keep my eyes open when I got home, plus the A55 was a carp park, so stayed in and had a Chinese and fell asleep at 9pm

New Jersey day though, so all good

[mikejd]

Perhaps we need a separate "yay, scruffy long dogs" thread. Other dogs also welcome.

Getting on now, 14 this month.

[BigdummySteve]

Perhaps we need a separate "yay, scruffy long dogs" thread. Other dogs also welcome.

Getting on now, 14 this month.

Saluki Cross?

[RIP]

Of course he is! Absolutely bloody furious! The big red lead is stopping him chasing that cheeky rabbit off to the right there.

In selfish news, Cheesed Off Saturday. Not going to North Wales tomorrow now cos of family stuff. Still maybe all for the best since it's going to bucket down on Tuesday along with 40-50mph winds and if there's two things that do not mix to the benefit of human stability it's slate and rainstorms.

[mikejd]

Full Saluki, but not registered because his father was a rescue. Can't let him off the lead or he'd disappear for hours.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Can't let him off the lead or he'd disappear for hours.

They are buggers for that aren't they

[mikejd]

Used to let him run in our local forest but after I had to pull him off a deer on two occasions, and someone complained about dogs being exercised off the lead and threatened to report to the police I stopped going there. He is able to run in our field but he's got quite lazy now.

[BigdummySteve]

Can't let him off the lead or he'd disappear for hours.

They are buggers for that aren't they

Definitely! Our previous lurcher ‘Harry’ used to wander off and we’d get a phone call from the pub he’d usually be found under the pool table asleep, our ‘local’ was 1 1/2 miles away.
Another thing I’ve noticed with sight hounds is their complete disregard for any training, they often just can’t be bothered! Harry was an exceptional hunting partner, I could be walking along and he would suddenly tuck in tight to my leg looking up waiting for the signal to go, yet if you threw a ball for him he would just look at you, you could almost see him thinking ‘you threw it away get it yourself’!
Definitely characters

[mikejd]

Agree on the training! I also think he's now lost his hearing.

[BigdummySteve]

We often thought the Same, funny thing was if you moved his food bowl an inch he’d hear it from the bottom of the garden.

[Bearbonesnorm]

They can be trained but they don't usually respond or behave in normal 'dog ways'. Roo came to us as an 18 week old pup having already had 3 homes ... she was a handful because she was a born alfa but with work she was superb by the time she was 3. I miss her.

[BigdummySteve]

Stu, the thing is these hounds were bred for hunting, I wrote a long post but deleted it because I knew I’d just get grief from people who think plastic shrink wrapped meat is somehow ethically superior.
In the field they come alive, walking through the local park or town centre is not where they are happy, I used to work a springer spaniel, she was an incredible dog, one of her pups would sit and come to hand at 12 weeks. But she couldn’t sleep in the house, despite lots of training.
I despair when I see people owning these dogs thinking they are like a Labrador, Afgans in particular spring to mind, pretty but still a pure hunting dog, it took centuries of breeding to get there, if you want a pet buy a tortoise.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Oh yeah, instinct is amazingly strong but my point was that long dogs / lurchers can be trained to behave to some degree ... Saluki are certainly one of the hardest though as they're often blessed with absolute tunnel vision and a high prey drive.

[mikejd]

Khalil certainly has this tunnel vision and prey drive. If he spots something it's like all other senses are closed down and you can't get through. He also seems to be very territorial. Any other dog passing the house or seen on a regular walk and he will go for them. Have to be watchful when out walking and kept on the lead.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Aye, Dennis is Saluki X and he's only ever allowed off on the beach and then he has a muzzle on. He's 13 now though so has calmed down somewhat

[middleagedmadness]

Started off not so cheery had a email in the week that my new build was delayed as they couldn’t get hold of a fork till September, so I had a little think and asked those nice people at alpkit if it could be swapped out for a carbon fork , helpful as ever Neil replied they are having a new carbon fork in stock at the end September if that was ok , so although it’s gonna be 6weeks later than expected I’m getting what I want instead of swapping at a later date , so all in all good service off alpkit and a cheery end to the week

[Verena]

Cheery Friday and posts about dogs, that's quite fitting....not feeling quite so cheery right now after not much sleep, in the garage on a sofa that's too short...almost like bikepacking .....daughter found a stray limping sheepdog on way home from work last night, so we brought him home. He started howling in the garden and not introduced to our other dogs yet, hence my night in the garage with him ....occasional growling drizzling and howling, a lot of fuss seeking and insistence on paw shaking, but mostly constant loud hot panting with breath straight from Satan's bottom... Now slowly waking up with strong coffee and work out what to do with the mutt....