Tales of the Village - a short walk

Tweet

My neighbour says she ate far too much over Christmas and she MUST take more exercise, so I challenged her to meet me for a walk this afternoon. I didn't force her to do my standard 'loop' of the village which takes about half an hour at flat out pace - instead we went for the half loop at about half speed. She's 71 and I didn't want to make her over-do things and then refuse to ever come out with me again. About 10 minutes in we were walking up the hill at the edge of the village and she told me that she'd never been up that road before. She has lived in the village for at least 45 years but didn't know this road at all. I was really surprised, especially since that road has some of the best views across the surrounding fields. We met a lovely puppy - a 4 month old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. I asked that lady walking him what he was and when she said 'A duck tolling retriever' she was amazed when I replied 'Nova Scotia?' as she said they're very rare in the UK and she'd not previously met anybody who'd heard of the breed. Doggy's name was Wallace and he was a handsome little dude - though potentially he won't live up to his breed name as it seems he's scared of water. She said he walks around puddles! Walking and talking to dogs gives me great pleasure.