A week of frustrations

Yet another Monday morning and everything seems to be against me this morning. A bad night's sleep followed by the ordinary routine of going out with the dogs at a quarter to five, wading through even more snow and generally getting washed and dressed. After a snowy drive in a lovely clean car, to be met with closed doors because they have put in new locks but not given us any keys. You couldn't make it up.
But more seriously, the "holiday" is over and I feel more tired and wacked out than before. And one or two events in the news and at home have added to the feeling that life isn't necessarily just a laugh a minute. The programme from Panorama screened on NRK 2 last week about pedigree dog breeding in the UK brought tears to my eyes. Several breeds, as we know, have been bred so intensivelty and to such a rediculous standard that they cannot live normal lives. Bassets, Bulldogs and Alsatians with no hips are the obvious examples. I also knew that King Charles' Spaniels had problems with skulls being too small, but the pictures of a poor mite lying on a sitting room floor in agony because of intense headache caused by a brain being too large for its cranium made me reach for my hanky. And the woman breeder who won a show with a lovely dog proved to be carrying this condition lying to the camera about how many litters it had sires just made me see red. I know Robin is clear of anything like that, but Kevin has had trouble with closed tear ducts, and cockers have problems with their eyes. I Kevin's case, this is easily dealt with. The immorality of the Kennel Club who say they are there to breed out such phenomena but turn a blind eye to this sort of thing just makes me not want to be part of an environment like that, in Britain or in Norway. I smiled when Mary Wade said Crufts was corrupt. Now I think she was putting it diplomatically.
And now it is Monday evening and I am going to have an early night. I haven't felt so worn out for as long as I can remember. But some things are sent to cheer us up. Robin did a large poo on the floor of the teachers' common room at school this morning. Only Marcelli saw it and he laughed as much as I did. Then Robin asked to go out to the toilet this afternoon. That puppy is learning fast! No choir tonight after having to do another job this evening. Or as my first years would say "I am not singing in the choir this evening". So right I'm not. And I am probably not missed either. Fair enough. I just hope the weather turns warmer soon. I'm sick and tired (yes, that word again) of this eternal snow and cold. Two expeditions are going to polar areas as we speak. Why bother? Southern Norway is closer and has a lot more snow on offer than the South Pole. At least it seems that way.