Andy has now been with us for just over a week. It has flown by. Andrew collected him last Thursday morning from the kennels and brought him home. Since then, we've begun to settle him in to a routine of sorts and he's experienced a number of firsts, including a visit to the vet on Saturday and a B.A.T.H. (traumatic for all concerned). On the plus side he has settled in remarkably quickly. He has a bed which is an Ikea sheepskin which he adores. This is in the living room, and when he is particularly relaxed he lies on it with his legs in the air which looks hilarious. He is a greedy eater and will cheerfully devour anything he can reach, which as he is a tall and intelligent dog, is quite a lot. A leg of lamb came to grief on Sunday, but we have learnt from that. He is great at travelling in the car, being very relaxed, but we still need to teach him to get in - at the moment, Andrew has to lift him in. He mastered the stairs very quickly and easily. Like most dogs, he is not over-fond of the hoover. He takes an immense interest in all the basic household tasks, such as hanging out washing, or washing up and likes to sniff everything with gusto.

On Monday and Tuesday we had the men in doing the floors, which of course created chaos. We tried to be out as much as possible. Now they are in, they look fabulous. I am so pleased with them. Andy's paws click as he walks over them. As we had to empty the rooms, all the bookshelves had to be cleared so on Wednesday, we emptied the last two boxes of books from the garage and had a tiring review of our entire library. There was a fair amount of pruning, re-ordering and the inevitable realisation that we never have anywhere near enough bookshelves - why is this? Is there some mysterious spatial law relating to books?

Today is a beautiful day and we are looking forward to just relaxing and enjoying the sunshine. I spent some time out the garden earlier giving Andy a good grooming. He loves it and visibly relaxes while I'm doing it. He is just losing his winter coat so is shedding a bit at the moment. My birthday on Sunday, and Andy's which is really spooky, although obviously he is quite a bit younger than me.

Yesterday Hil came up from Swansea on the train, and we raided Ikea for her new room layout. We ended up with five trolley loads, including a sofa, sofabed and armchair and a vast assortment of Billy bookcases. She is receiving the delivery tomorrow. We used the opportunity to stock up on Swedish meatballs and the shrimp cheese paste which Andrew likes, and has just had on toast for breakfast.