A phenomenally long and busy week since I last posted. Whenever I go on leave, there is always a frantic attempt beforehand to clear out my email inbox and sort things out. Also had further meetings to do with budget bids and have presented them to the unions. They opposed the savings I had put forward, but did not make any suggestions for where the cash should come from. Met our new CO for the first time. Difficult to make much of an assessment, she was polite, seemed friendly, but obviously early days yet. She is hoping to start at the end of October.

Thursday was busy as Chris and I were interviewing for the CC Support officer. We had scheduled seven, two pulled out, and we have another three scheduled for September after all the holidays. Interviews went well and we were generally very pleased and impressed with the calibre of candidates. It will be a tough decision whoever we pick. We have recently adopted a new feature in interviews and used it in this one - we gave each candidate a written copy of the questions, so they could refer to it. This seems to go down well, and helps them to keep abreast of things.

Decided to leave work early as was going out later. A came and collected me as he had been working from home. Got home, parked car, and walked round the front of the house, hearing the usual tumult from the dogs, excited squeaking and bouncing against the door. A put his key in the lock and suddenly we heard a high pitched scream instead. Rushed inside to find that Andy had bounced up to the door, but got one of his front toenails caught in the big keyhole and then ripped it out completely, leaving the bleeding stump of the quick. The hall immediately resembled a murder scene from CSI - paws and nails always bleed so much. Eventually the bleeding slowed down, and we now have a new nickname - Jake the peg for him. We took him to the vet, who gave him the once over and an antiseptic spray, but there isn't really much more to do except wait for it to grow back.

After all that excitement, we went out with Alan, over to Caldicot Castle for an open air production of Twelfth Night, with a picnic. We loaded up the coolbox, with lots of nice things, including home made bread - especially delicious with about a third rye flour vs wheat. Really adds a lovely flavour, texture and aroma. Enjoyed the evening thoroughly - the production was enchanting, the setting beautiful and intimate, the company congenial. Amazingly the weather was perfect - one of those gorgeous summer evenings you imagine in the middle of winter. Cloudless blue sky full of swallows, evening shadows golden on the grass, perfect. I had been struggling all day with the beginnings of a sore throat, but simply enjoyed the anaesthetic effects of Pinot Grigio in the evening. Eventually drove home, dropped off Alan and collapsed into bed, officially on holiday - hurrah!

Found out Sarah's GCSE results on Friday morning - she has seven, including two A grades, one not surprisingly for Art, the other for Science. Fantastic, I am so pleased for her. Her next step is to go to college in Llanelli to do an Art course.

Less happily, by Friday morning the throat had developed further, and by today, I have officially lost my voice and have a hacking dry cough. We reluctantly cancelled our attendance at the Evans family do - frustrating on a number of levels, as we still pay the dog walker and will have to pay for the buffet and the room hire - £30 a head is not cheap. Andy is continuing to hop around with his poorly paw - he wants to do things but it is apparent that it is still very painful for him at times. We took them over to Tredegar House this morning, for a shortened walk, mainly on the grass so it would be softer for him. Rather ironically, we finally had our home visit yesterday from the Greyhound Rescue Wales people to see how the two dogs are settling in. I was able to make squeaking noises at Sandra - we see her at the monthly greyhound walks over at Cosmeston so she knows the dogs and us. Went through the questionnaire and it seems all is well. Sandra commented on how well the two dogs look, Andy's foot notwithstanding. I must admit their coats are looking fantastic. The hound mitt, along with the sardines and the cod liver oil has really done the business. Andy especially just gleams. There, I will stop here, as it is time for them to be fed.