So here we are in what feels like a heatwave!! We've now had what seems like a couple of weeks of progressively hotter and sunnier weather, with not a drop of rain, and temperatures climbing steadily upwards. We're having to water bits of the garden, not just the pots, we've ditched the duvet on the bed, and dog walks are now taken very early in the morning. By half past nine, it's up in the high twenties (C) and the dogs are miserable. All of them have lost their appetite, are much more listless and just lie around panting looking uncomfortable. Being greyhounds, there's not exactly much excess weight especially on our two oldies, Booty and Boola so we are continually battling to keep them eating and not to lose too much. This is particularly frustrating with Boola as we were making great strides with his condition, and were managing to just cover the bones while maintaining his musculature. He's still thinner than I would like; remember this is a greyhound we are talking about so we are starting from a pretty skinny base.

We've had an exciting time out in the garden - the toadpoles and tadpoles have finally hatched (is this the correct technical term? Fledged doesn't seem right), lost their tails and the garden is now plastered with adorable, tiny little froglets each about the size of a penny, hopping about, making their way in the world. We've also bought a little inflatable paddling pool for the woofs - so far, only Booty has been in it. Andy looks at it as though it is an evil trap and Boola prefers a sofa. I must admit though I love sitting out there and swishing my feet around in it - very cooling and refreshing.

Thursday was a very interesting day. I had received a kind invitation to speak to the all Wales Dog Warden group as I have been doing a great deal of research on microchipping of dogs in Wales, particularly in relation to Welsh Councils' policies. As far as I'm aware, nobody has compiled these policies together in this way before and it has proved to be a very interesting and worthwhile exercise, while also generating lots of further questions and pointers for policy development. So, I had put together a PowerPoint presentation of the key findings plus some ideas on how these could be developed in the future, particularly considering the wider issues around the public sector in Wales (major budget restrictions, particularly). The journey up to Rhayader was spectacular and of course filled with very happy memories of our life in Powys last year. It was a real treat to drive through the National Park, see red kites wheeling overhead and to be surrounded by the beauty of mid Wales on a glorious, sunny day. I arrived at the Leisure Centre, set up my talk and soon it was time to get to business.

Some very interesting points came out of the discussions which I think are worthy of further following up. There is a real issue over the patchiness of out of hours coverage for stray dogs - some authorities have excellent facilities, while others, bluntly, don't, similarly with websites, policies and so on - there is a huge variation of policy and practice. One of the points I hope I got across is that the public, when faced with either finding or losing a dog, don't really care which Council they are dealing with, or what department, they just need to get the problem sorted. Anyway, there's lots of scope for further work on the issues raised, so watch this space. One of the things I am seriously considering is setting up a dedicated microchipping website for Wales, with lots of information for dog owners on the comparative policies of the various Councils and policy updates, recommendations, news, links and so on. At the moment, with my Welsh Festival of the Horse stuff going on, this probably isn't realistic, but after the Festival which is in early September I may have a bit more time to devote to this, and am currently giving it some serious thought. I'd welcome comments or ideas or suggestions from readers.

Anyway, back at Rhayader, after finishing my presentation and having a really nice chat with the meeting chair it was back to Cardiff. One of the subjects we discussed after the meeting was the presence of many Christians in Council Trading Standards departments - there is a large amount of Biblical teaching on this, particularly the importance of not trading with false measures, trading honestly and fairly, paying fairly and not cheating, not passing counterfeit goods and so on. It's good to see a job that has so many and such positive Biblical precedents.

Driving back, I listened in the car to a compilation CD that I had burned from an Ipod playlist. I have come comparatively late to the joys of these playlists. For a long time, I've been a huge fan of Spotify and tend to listen to that while I am working on the PC. The ipod is very much something I tend to use while travelling, and downstairs I listen mainly to CDs and of course in the car. In any case, much of my listening is to Radio 4 rather than to music, so playlists just hadn't crossed my radar very much. Anyway, I set one up (called a 70's Cheesefest, so that gives you an idea of the contents) and haven't looked back. Like most people, I've got lots of CDs that bluntly have got two or three excellent tracks on, and a lot that are so-so. The playlist lets me select my favourites according to mood and so on, and set up a lovely assortment without any duffs. Burning a CD once this is set up is straightforward, and hey presto your playlist is ready to travel. Brilliant. I realise most of my readers will at this point be rolling their eyes and thinking "Where has she been?", but I'm not ashamed of my belated conversion to this lovely idea. I should also point out that I continue to be steadfastly opposed to the free downloading of tracks that have not been bought - I probably couldn't do a very good job of explaining why, so I won't try except to say it feels wrong.