I was up well and truly before Bec arose today, and not wanting to wake her up, I took the computer outside to the annex, in an effort to catch up on the reviews I have been writing for Trip Advisor. Having left the air conditioner on overnight, the moist heat hit me like a sledge hammer as I stepped from the van. I was taken aback a little by the high temperature, but sat outside nonetheless, perspiring profusely despite doing nothing more strenuous than flitting my fingers across the keyboard as I poured out my honest thoughts about places we have stayed, things we’ve done and eateries we’ve frequented. I’ve submitted enough reports now to have reached the lofty status of ‘Senior Contributor’. Sounds exciting, but in reality it just means I have too much time on my hands and have provided more than 21 reviews. Don’t forget to check them out if you want to hear what I’ve thought about the some of the places we’ve been to. There’s a link on the links page.

When Bec eventually dragged herself out of bed, we decided to cook up a big hearty Sunday breakfast of bacon and eggs. We did figure out that it wasn’t actually Sunday, but given the rate at which we lose track of days, and with a quiet day relaxing in the van planned, we figured we’d treat today as a Sunday anyway. We also figured that since by now it was already close to midday, our breakfast could easily be considered our lunch.

With all that in mind, we devoured our delicious breakfast come lunch, before retiring to the sitting room, also known as the cinema room, which in turn is also known as the bedroom, to watch a movie. That’s the great thing about having an impromptu weekend in the middle of the week while on holiday. We haven’t worked our butts off for the whole week, and let our entire list of chores bank up waiting to be completed at weeks end. Nope. Instead, we did put a load of washing in the machine, and then the afternoon was ours to do with what we planned.

Well, so I thought. Once the movie was over, Bec announced that the afternoon was our to do with what she planned. Her plan, she described, was that it was time for the dogs to have a haircut. Both Alvin and Bethany have reasonably long hair, and Bec has decided that in this climate, they will be better served with a coat of short hair. Out came the hair clippers, and Bec launched into transforming Bethany from a beautiful long haired pooch, to a rebellious looking tomboy.

Here we go. Bethany’s up first.

In the sweltering heat beneath the awning, we clippered and cut and trimmed, as we fought to rid Bethany of the majority of her coat. She was a great sport about the whole episode, obediently doing everything she was told, much to our surprise. Usually it’s a struggle just to groom her, and yet she looked like she enjoyed all of this attention.

With Bethany transformed, it was my turn next, as we let the dog clippers cool down. Much the same as Bethany, I sat obediently doing everything I was told. It feels so much better for me to lose what was becoming an unruly mop, so I can only imagine how good Bethany feels now, and how good Alvin is about to feel.

Like Bethany, Alvin was very well behaved, although not exactly happy, as we liberated him from his thick, long, wooly coat, shearing him like a sheep. The undercoat was so thick, it was hard to cut, and continually clogged the trimmers, necessitating constant cleaning as we went.

Alvin’s not looking too happy about his trim.

What we though would take an hour at most, and that was accounting for both dogs, took closer to three hours in total. By the time we were finally done with the hairdressing, we looked as if we’d been tarred and feathered with sweat and dog hair. The floor of the annex was strewn with great clumps of hair and we were tired and sore from having been leaning over the dogs all afternoon. So much for what was meant to be an easy day of relaxing, but Bec is sure it will be much better for them. Looking at how much hair came off them, I would tend to agree. In the looks department, despite Alvins head looking about 2 sizes too big for his body now, they came up all right. For the effort it took however, I think I’d rather pay someone to do the job next time.

Alvin’s still not too sure about his new do…

..while Bethany is quite content.

To try and blow some of the stray hairs off of them before allowing them admittance back into the van, it was off for a run with them. This was however brought to a quick conclusion, as several large drops of rain thumped into the arid ground, kicking up little clouds of dust as each drop smashed into the dirt. By the time we made it back to the van, the few drops increased to a steady stream of cooling rain which eventually seemed to set in for the evening. The temperature thankfully dropped substantially at the first hint of rain, which was a relief, because the slight fall we had yesterday just made everything even stickier. Not that we ought to be whinging about the high temperatures. We headed north to escape the southern winter, and after watching the weather bulletin on the news tonight, if we’d been at home, I know for sure we would have been whining about the cold down there instead.

A quick shower brought us relief from our scratchy coating of stray dog hairs, before we cooked up dinner, then continued with our planned schedule of relaxation for the remainder of the night.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.