New Years Eve was quiet for us as fireworks are often let off which upset Booty, so we don't like going out and leaving her. There were lots around midnight but much of the night was fairly quiet as (thankfully) the bad weather kept most people indoors. New Years Day we took Boola over to Barry Beach for the Greyhound Welfare Walk. To our surprise the beach was heaving with people and dogs.
Boola really enjoyed meeting lots of other dogs and it was lovely to see so many beautiful greyhounds in one place. One family had brought the most adorable lurcher pup - a real bundle of mischief that had been left, hungry, bleeding and wounded, tied to a lamp-post. Seeing her now with an adoring family, tumbling about on the beach was joyful. We were lucky with the weather - it stayed dry until just before we got back to the promenade, then the heavens opened and we headed for home and a much needed cuppa and snooze.
Since then we've had a quiet week. It's been lovely having Andrew home and we've enjoyed just pottering round, walking the dogs (through seemingly endless mud) and catching up on a few domestic chores. Andrew tidied the garage, and disturbed some mice who'd set up a winter home in a bag of compost. On Wednesday, we took advantage of Andrew's Orange contract and went to the cinema, doing an Orange Wednesday (where you get two tickets for the price of one). We went to see the new Sherlock Holmes film with Robert Downey Jnr and Jude Law, and I must say we loved it! Great fun. Fabulous steampunk feel, lots of knockabout fun. No point in trying to keep up with various intricate plot details - it was just a really fun evening. Grabbed a Chinese takeaway on the way home, which I shared with Andy - he really seemed to like it, and to my surprise took the chillies in the duck sauce completely in his stride. Brave hound!
While we were there, we saw a trailer for War Horse, which opens this coming week. I won't be going to see this - I found even the trailer very upsetting. Somehow the idea of watching for entertainment the slaughter of the trenches and seeing terrified animals getting blown up doesn't appeal. Maybe it's because dogs and horses are very special to me, and particularly as I'm involved in rescue - I feel as though I already see far too much real animal suffering to ever want to voluntarily watch a drama about it. From the human perspective too, there seem to be endless dramas and documentaries about the suffering of the first World War - again, very harrowing stuff.
On a related note, I've now started work on a response to WG for Round 2 of the dog breeding legislation consultation. This time, I'm helping to write the response for CARIAD, a new organisation which is a coalition of the various rescue charities in Wales fighting against puppy farming. Our hope is that we can do a detailed response and highlight the key points, which our partners can then use to inform their own responses. I am so desperately hopeful we can get some decent legislation in. Puppy farming is a stain on rural Wales and has a horrible effect on the dogs involved, both bitches and the pups themselves who are often prone to behavioural issues in later life because of the appalling lack of socialisation early on. On top of this, many of the pups are from parents that are not health tested and are thus often prone to genetic issues affecting their health and wellbeing.
As well as this, we've been catching up with a rerun of Brideshead Revisited which Sky Arts ran over Christmas. It's been a treat to watch such a lavish production though Jeremy Irons is astonishingly wooden in it and wears the most hilarious moustache. In the later episodes he attempts to look older by constantly sticking a large pipe in his mouth (always unlit) - it doesn't work. Apart from that it's been enjoyable to watch though. Andrew and I have discussed it and felt that it simply wouldn't be made today (certainly not in that way). There's a great deal of discussion about the church and faith ( the central theme of the drama) and it's treated with respect in the TV production. I genuinely don't think it would be handled like this today, or the unquestioning acceptance of the aristocratic lifestyle that is portrayed. Nowadays there would be much more emphasis on either portraying this negatively (perhaps being horrible to servants?) or bringing in more characters of other social backgrounds. We are particularly enjoying the wonderful cameo appearances by John Gielgud - gloriously bitchy and delightfully eccentric. I must also say the costumes and settings have been sumptuous - a real visual feast.
From that to tonight's viewing was a bit of a contrast. Casualty filmed in our street in late November and early December and tonight was the episode that featured our street and house. We haven't watched Casualty for years and I was interested to see how it was. Sadly, it was dreadful and I won't be watching it again. It really made me realise how slick things like ER are and in general American TV seems to do this type of thing so much better and with more conviction.
Charlie is still as wooden as a door. And there were a whole raft of other medical cliches. Tarty Scouse nurse who has a heart of gold - check. Feisty female doctor who has a run in with rugged fire chief and refuses to leave her dying patient even though she is in danger - check. Nicely multi ethnic paramedics showing exemplary teamwork and mutual support - check. Heroic off duty nurse who rushes in to save her neighbours (and is black, so an extra bonus point) - check. Unfolding family drama with wife and mistress being positioned on each side of wounded man, each waiting for the royal hand to be extended - check. Any normal woman would have kicked him in the nuts for being a cheating bastard. Surprising toxic waste that bubbles and steams in a dramatic way - check. Heroic fire chief who ignores safety protocol and rushes in to danger zone to rescue man and ends up being taken to hospital, now being tended by feisty female doctor who has realised that under his gritty exterior he is really A Heart of Gold - check. Estranged husband of said feisty female medic portrayed looking wistfully at a picture of their wedding day when she is brought back in from emergency location - check. Miraculous ability of said female doctor to work in area of toxic gas and be the only person to be completely unaffected by blisters, burns etc. even though she was heroically dragging wounded patients about - check. Cute dog who plays heart warming but peripheral role in story (and is also miraculously unaffected) and reunited with loving children at end - check.
And of course every patient that is brought in now has to have the obligatory paremedic rattling off the "Suspected contusion to upper right clarinet, with a broken bassoon. BP is 80 over 20, his airmax is 27, his airmiles are 200 and his clubcard is maxed out." Everyone else has to constantly be seen peeling off latex gloves during every conversation and to constantly be wrapping stethoscopes around their neck but strangely never actually using them. And of course no medical drama is complete without the lead doctor doing CPR on a dead patient while his colleagues say "John, he's gone" in a concerned sort of way until he finally gives up in disgust, peels off a latex glove and wearily says "All agreed? Time of death 15.20" and stalks off looking vulnerable in a heroic and manly sort of way. Actually, thinking about it, it might be fun to set up a Casualty bingo.
