It's pretty unusual for me to do two blog posts in one day, but then it is pretty unusual for me to appear on TV. One of my volunteer activities for the greyhound charity is that I compile and write the monthly e-newsletter that goes out to anyone who wants it. If you're reading this and would like to be added to the distribution list, just drop me a line, and I'll gladly add you. February was unusual in that as well as our normal monthly bulletin, full of the normal stuff about upcoming events, I'd been specifically asked to do a campaign special to be distributed the night before the campaign kick off down at the Senedd. So, in order to write a good newsletter, I did a lot of liaison with Alain the guy who was the driver behind the campaign, and nearly drove the poor man mad with a barrage of questions. Anyway, the net result was that by the time the newsletter went out last night I did at least feel that I was on top of the main issues.

I suggested to Alain, that although dogs are not allowed in the Senedd building (except guide dogs of course), that I was happy to have ours on standby if needed for a photo-op outside the Senedd building. Generally, journalists/photographers love having greyhounds in the picture; no disrespect to our politicians, but a pic of them standing outside an office building isn't very exciting. Put a gorgeous hound in and you've got something a bit better. Alain said he would let me know if I was needed. Anyway, during the course of the afternoon, this morphed somehow from "Yes, come down to the Senedd and lend your greyhound to a politician for a photo" to "How would you feel about doing an interview up at the kennels?"

So, I found myself driving through the snow and bitter cold with dear Boola in the boot up to Pantymilah kennels - one of the kennels the charity uses for boarding our dogs and also where we took our three when we went to Germany before Christmas. The couple who run it are lovely and they have a great team of staff. When I got to the car park, there was a Transit van parked up with satellite dish on roof so made contact and was fitted up with a little microphone on my jacket. Then it was up to the kennels, had a chat to Martin, the owner, and confusingly all the BBC men were called Rhodri. Of course the benefit of this was that I didn't have to remember too many names.

It was bitterly cold, and I was desperate not to look as though I was shaking from nerves when I was shivering. We did a couple of run-throughs on the questions, then there seemed a long period of waiting about, and then we were told we were going live in about a minute and a half. One of the Rhodris then rushed over and we did the interview (he was very nice and asked good, sensible questions and I didn't feel too rushed) then it was suddenly all over. Boola said Goodbye to the other dogs and we slowly left, having a little chat. Another of the very nice BBC men helped me get out of the car park (doing a 27 point turn round his Transit) then it was time to go home. I've had some feedback which has been positive, and a big thank you to everyone who made nice comments. What really surprised me is the adrenaline rush during the interview and of course downturn afterwards - I feel shattered.

I've put another link up - there's a video clip embedded in the story.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8528159.stm

I must say Boola is fantastically photogenic and he was a real star - so well behaved, both Rhodris were fussing over him. Huge thanks are also due to Martin and his team up at Pantymilah for allowing us to use the kennels for filming.