Meet the Parents

For those of you who read the blog regularly, you'll know that in my last post I alluded to having a rather lovely man in my life.

Well I'm pleased to say, that we are, a year and a half after meeting, still going strong. He's rather lovely (yes I know I've already said that, but humour me a little here), he makes me laugh, a lot and is very kind and thoughtful. He's also a little sad that he has not yet been included in any of my posts.



There is a reason for this. Whereas I am quite an open person and am happy to share a certain amount of my life with you lovelies, Mr Orange Dog is much more of a private person and I didn't want to talk about him without checking he was happy for me to do so. I try to be a considerate girlfriend. Anyway, he has said it's fine, but no photos and I think that's fair.

Anyway, as I was saying, we've now been seeing one another for a year and a half. He's met my parents; my mum, was on her best behaviour and didn't come out with any of her rather strange comments, my dad told one his best jokes and Mr Orange Dog decided that my mum makes better tea than I do. However, I had not met his parents, at least until this weekend.

So wanting to make a good impression, I set the alarm nice and early and dutifully got up when the alarm went off so that I could get my hair washed. It takes an age to dry it and then straighten it and I obviously wanted to look like I'd made an effort. I drew the line at a dress though as Little Orange Dog was also coming with us and he does like to jump up and cover you in orange hair.

Anyway, I made sure I was ready and had done all I needed to (including a dog walk) ready for Mister to collect me for the journey to Buckinghamshire at 9.30am. A quick trip to my car to get Little Orange Dog's seatbelt (because he needs to be safe in the car too) and we were off. Max was a very happy boy as he got to sit with Mister's daughter, whom he loves as much as his own girls. He wasn't impressed that we stopped for petrol though. I think he just wanted to get on with the journey.

Can we just get going please?

And so we were off. The traffic was surprisingly kind to us, as was the weather and we soon arrived in lovely, sunny, leafy Buckinghamshire. I am a little bit in love with all the beautiful leafy residential roads, which is just as well, but I will expand on this topic a little later; don't worry, it won't be long.

We arrived at the family home and I was introduced to Mister's father, who was busy in the kitchen preparing lunch for us all. What a lovely gentleman! Even lovelier as he makes a rather nice cup of tea which we enjoyed in the sunny garden, followed by a quick game of volleyball (between Mister and his daughter) and then on to the basketball hoop.

Now this is significant to me as I was coerced into joining in and since I was nearly always last to be picked for teams in PE at school, I was feeling a little self conscious. First go, I missed all five of my goes, not one single basket out of five did I manage. I was back in that dreaded PE lesson again! Second go I got it, I ended up scoring five baskets over the next two goes and got very excited, much to the amusement of the other two participants.

Yes! That one did go in!

Next it was off to visit Mister's mum, who for health reasons does not live in the family home. Max came with us too and I gave him a walk during the visit. And so we return to those beautiful leafy streets. No sooner had we started our 'short' walk, than Little Orange Dog felt the need to relieve himself of the burden he was carrying in his bowels, right by a sign telling dog owners to 'Bag it and Bin it', no problem, I bagged it (with my last remaining bag - panic was now setting in incase he did another one) and set about finding a dog bin.

No Mum, I can't see a dog bin either

Now you'd think this would be quite an easy task, especially given the sign I'd seen, but no. I walked up and down rather a lot of lovely, residential streets with lovely big houses sitting behind gates with keypads for entry, before eventually finding the main road and a much coveted waste bin (not a dog bin). I must have been gone for quite a while as I got a text asking if I was lost. Thankfully I wasn't and made my way back safely and got to meet Mister's mother.

Then it was back to the family home for a lovely homecooked lunch, another little doggy walk; the highlight of which was bumping into a beautiful little Blenheim Cavi Pup and chatting with his owner about all things Cavi (poor Mister and his daughter had to endure two fully grown adults being crazy Cavi owners). Then a quick cuppa before heading back to Kent, and it's fair to say, the kindness of the traffic did not extend to our run home.

All in all, it was a super lovely day. A big thank you to Mister for inviting me along and letting me loose around his parents; a very brave move, but I think I was reasonably well behaved ;-)