Last week we heard a knocking noise, the dogs thought there was a burglar breaking in but no-one was seen. Then later we heard it again and a more thorough search ensued but still nothing. However, on Friday we lost a thimblette (rubber finger tip for helping count paper etc), of which more later, and in searching for it we saw that the side of the solid oak chest of draws on which rests the 3 foot long fish tank had split from top to bottom! Oops!! - on closer inspection we found that the tank has been leaking, condensation from the lid running down the front and seeping under the protective polystyrene into the inch thick top which, as wood does, had expanded and then in the warm sunshine split asunder leaving the tank in a rather precarious position. So first thing Saturday morning the tank was emptied of most of its 20something gallons of warm water and gently moved to another solid, non-wooden table where it was refilled with half the original water and half new (which as this is a tropical tank had to be warmed to 25ยบC before being added otherwise the fish stop metabolising and tend to die..) and then the fish were all returned to their nice clean tank. We don’t think any of them have objected to the point of turning up their fins, a few were off their food over the weekend but all seem to be back to normal. We return to the missing 'finger' – one of the office dogs is an Irish Wolfhound which, as any reader of James Herriot will know, like to eat anything their enormous jaws can grasp and yes you've guessed it Cara had swiped the thimblette from under our noses. Last time she nicked one it involved vets assistance but this time this one has emerged intact – lovely!
And that's not all of the animal antics and disasters. TB was skittled by one of her lurchers, he came dashing up behind her at full tilt, ran into the back of her legs at about knee height and, as if in slow motion, her feet rose to where moments before her shoulders had been and the ground met her back and head with an almighty crack. Resulting in heavy bruising, slight concusion but nothing life threatening.