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lupestripeIt was an early start on Sunday as we had to get up for the annual Bark In The Park charity event at Golden Acre Park. We have suited here in each of the last three years and it's always great fun, despite having to get up at 7am on a Sunday, which is never fun. This was particularly the case this weekend as we had only had five hours sleep and were still recovering from our exploits the day before in York - we never intended to drink so much, it just happened.
Arcais and Adia were also down to suit that day but the panda withdrew citing difficulties getting to us. Despite a short delay, we did mange to get out and swing by Adia's place to pick her and Soma up before arriving at Golden Acre miraculously pretty much on time. The weather on Sunday was somewhat atrocious, with rain and strong wind, but the sun started to peer behind the clouds just as the event started meaning the suiting conditions were ideal (indeed I didn't sweat at all in suit and was oblivious to the biting cold wind which did an excellent job of cooling me down). Understandably, as it was rather wet underfoot, Adia decided not to suit, meaning there was only me and two fewer suits than promised (and even I didn't wear my footpaws due to the dampness - only one kid noticed right at the end). Still, this meant that Adia and Soma could spot for me while Wolfie meant for a sleep in the car as he was still feeling sick from Saturday's exploits.
The suiting went well but the number of dog walkers was significantly reduced on previous years, assumedly due to the weather. Some of the dogs were very unsure of big pink dog, interestingly the larger ones as the smaller ones must have found no difference as everything is big and scary to them. A couple of dogs did love the suit though, with a beautiful white one jumping up to greet me. This may have been because I had dipped my snout in gravy bones beforehand, this dog certainly enjoyed licking my nose. There was also another suiter there on behalf of a local vets - it was more of a store bought dog suit but it looked quite sweet, while the female performer inside (we know this as we saw her changing in the car park as we did) was most excellent and it was great playing with her, pulling her tongue and toying with the complimentary dog frisbees that they had bought. I also had a fair few pictures taken of me holding dogs on leads as if I was walking them. Performing was a little tough in the conditions, particularly as I couldn't go down on one knee due to the saturation, but I did the best with what I could.
By 10:30am it was largely all over so after all the dogs had registered - it was my job to point walkers to the registration booth - we hung around for a bit before changing. It was quite a successful day, with only a few showers halting the performing (with a useful nearby bridge suitable for sheltering). Afterwards we then had a pleasant walk around the park as I had never seen it, with the ambience being suitably wintery due to the biting wind. It was a pleasant park though, with a beautiful lake in the centre and walls through naked jagged trees. I called off at the little cafe to pick up my complimentary cup of tea and was delighted to see they served Leeds Brewery beer, something to remember for the summer.
As we finished so early, we had about 45 minutes to kill before completing our usual Bark In The Park agenda, a meal at the nearby Lawnswood Arms. This is a cheap and cheerful Wacky Warehouse style pub, a step lower than Wetherspoons, but at least now they have some Saltaire and Leeds Brewery ale on tap in addition to the mass produced crap that is still the staple in many pubs. I had the Sunday lunch, an adequate meal with thin greasy gravy, but for £5.99 you can't complain I guess. It would appeal grills (which seemed rather dry to me) and desserts are their speciality. Adia had profiteroles and got a massive bowel-blocking slice of Oreo chocolate cake to take home.
Before the meal, we drove around north Leeds for a bit - it's amazing that despite living here for five years, there are still vast swathes of the city I have yet to explore. We went around the well-to-do suburbs of Alwoodley and Eccup, surprised to see rolling countryside and country roads in the Leeds city boundaries. We saw a beautiful viaduct punctuate the greenness while some of the villages were almost picture postcard. We got lost a few times due to Soma's bizarre sat nav system that urged us to 'slide right' and kept changing distances from yards to feet to miles, but this just allowed us to see more of the area. We were trying to get to Eccup Reservoir, a place Adia had hoped to visit for a while and we did eventually find it, enjoying a leisurely stroll around its periphery as we watched ducks bob up and down on the waves whipped up by the wind. I contemplated that it must be quite dull being a duck while we were unsure initially whether we should be there as there was a Footpath Closed sign at a jaunty angle as if if had fallen from the path's entrance. In the end we saw others down this path and a sign saying they were doing reservoir work until March 2015 so assumedly we were fine. It was a nice walk in the end and a great way to build up an appetite for lunch, even if I did need to go for a pee pretty badly due to my tea drinking.
After all of this, we dropped Adia and Soma back home before heading back to ours, when Wolfie went off to his parents and I fell asleep, with the lack of sleep in Saturday night coupled with a large meal and suiting taking its toll. I was asleep a good few hours and despite waking up groggy, as is often the case after a nap, I still managed to go the gym, which is becoming a Sunday night ritual now. To be honest it's a sign that I'm having more Sundays free these days and doing one then means it frees one of my midweek evenings up should I want or need to do something else. Sunday evening TV leaves little to be desired (although prank show Off Their Rockers was amusing) but it did make me feel better about the drinking we had done on Thursday and Saturday at least. With a trip to Poland coming up, anything to assuage those feelings of guilt will be useful so I'm glad I did it.
Arcais and Adia were also down to suit that day but the panda withdrew citing difficulties getting to us. Despite a short delay, we did mange to get out and swing by Adia's place to pick her and Soma up before arriving at Golden Acre miraculously pretty much on time. The weather on Sunday was somewhat atrocious, with rain and strong wind, but the sun started to peer behind the clouds just as the event started meaning the suiting conditions were ideal (indeed I didn't sweat at all in suit and was oblivious to the biting cold wind which did an excellent job of cooling me down). Understandably, as it was rather wet underfoot, Adia decided not to suit, meaning there was only me and two fewer suits than promised (and even I didn't wear my footpaws due to the dampness - only one kid noticed right at the end). Still, this meant that Adia and Soma could spot for me while Wolfie meant for a sleep in the car as he was still feeling sick from Saturday's exploits.
The suiting went well but the number of dog walkers was significantly reduced on previous years, assumedly due to the weather. Some of the dogs were very unsure of big pink dog, interestingly the larger ones as the smaller ones must have found no difference as everything is big and scary to them. A couple of dogs did love the suit though, with a beautiful white one jumping up to greet me. This may have been because I had dipped my snout in gravy bones beforehand, this dog certainly enjoyed licking my nose. There was also another suiter there on behalf of a local vets - it was more of a store bought dog suit but it looked quite sweet, while the female performer inside (we know this as we saw her changing in the car park as we did) was most excellent and it was great playing with her, pulling her tongue and toying with the complimentary dog frisbees that they had bought. I also had a fair few pictures taken of me holding dogs on leads as if I was walking them. Performing was a little tough in the conditions, particularly as I couldn't go down on one knee due to the saturation, but I did the best with what I could.
By 10:30am it was largely all over so after all the dogs had registered - it was my job to point walkers to the registration booth - we hung around for a bit before changing. It was quite a successful day, with only a few showers halting the performing (with a useful nearby bridge suitable for sheltering). Afterwards we then had a pleasant walk around the park as I had never seen it, with the ambience being suitably wintery due to the biting wind. It was a pleasant park though, with a beautiful lake in the centre and walls through naked jagged trees. I called off at the little cafe to pick up my complimentary cup of tea and was delighted to see they served Leeds Brewery beer, something to remember for the summer.
As we finished so early, we had about 45 minutes to kill before completing our usual Bark In The Park agenda, a meal at the nearby Lawnswood Arms. This is a cheap and cheerful Wacky Warehouse style pub, a step lower than Wetherspoons, but at least now they have some Saltaire and Leeds Brewery ale on tap in addition to the mass produced crap that is still the staple in many pubs. I had the Sunday lunch, an adequate meal with thin greasy gravy, but for £5.99 you can't complain I guess. It would appeal grills (which seemed rather dry to me) and desserts are their speciality. Adia had profiteroles and got a massive bowel-blocking slice of Oreo chocolate cake to take home.
Before the meal, we drove around north Leeds for a bit - it's amazing that despite living here for five years, there are still vast swathes of the city I have yet to explore. We went around the well-to-do suburbs of Alwoodley and Eccup, surprised to see rolling countryside and country roads in the Leeds city boundaries. We saw a beautiful viaduct punctuate the greenness while some of the villages were almost picture postcard. We got lost a few times due to Soma's bizarre sat nav system that urged us to 'slide right' and kept changing distances from yards to feet to miles, but this just allowed us to see more of the area. We were trying to get to Eccup Reservoir, a place Adia had hoped to visit for a while and we did eventually find it, enjoying a leisurely stroll around its periphery as we watched ducks bob up and down on the waves whipped up by the wind. I contemplated that it must be quite dull being a duck while we were unsure initially whether we should be there as there was a Footpath Closed sign at a jaunty angle as if if had fallen from the path's entrance. In the end we saw others down this path and a sign saying they were doing reservoir work until March 2015 so assumedly we were fine. It was a nice walk in the end and a great way to build up an appetite for lunch, even if I did need to go for a pee pretty badly due to my tea drinking.
After all of this, we dropped Adia and Soma back home before heading back to ours, when Wolfie went off to his parents and I fell asleep, with the lack of sleep in Saturday night coupled with a large meal and suiting taking its toll. I was asleep a good few hours and despite waking up groggy, as is often the case after a nap, I still managed to go the gym, which is becoming a Sunday night ritual now. To be honest it's a sign that I'm having more Sundays free these days and doing one then means it frees one of my midweek evenings up should I want or need to do something else. Sunday evening TV leaves little to be desired (although prank show Off Their Rockers was amusing) but it did make me feel better about the drinking we had done on Thursday and Saturday at least. With a trip to Poland coming up, anything to assuage those feelings of guilt will be useful so I'm glad I did it.
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no subject
Date: 2015-03-08 06:47 am (UTC)we never intended to drink so much, it just happened
*giggle* You're definitely my kind of fur. ^_^
and even I didn't wear my footpaws due to the dampness
Understandable. It's very awkward to clean feet properly - washing isn't so difficult, but drying is a bit of a pain, where fake fur's concerned. =:/
I had dipped my snout in gravy bones beforehand
That surely counts as cheating. =:D
There was also another suiter there on behalf of a local vets
Ah, an interfacing between furrydom and.. potential furrydom? Hopefully she enjoyed the suiting. ^_^
By 10:30am it was largely all over
I am, admittedly, boggling at the concept of something being done with before I'm likely to even be conscious on a Sunday. =:)
Ugh, Oreos. I'd send that brand packing, chased by a pack of Hobnobs.
while some of the villages were almost picture postcard
I'll note here the power of photography, but only when such images are posted. *cough*
A pretty damned good day, in all! ^_^ Lots done and seen, and plenty of friends involved. Don't suppose you could lure Adia onto LJ?
no subject
Date: 2015-03-09 12:05 am (UTC)I like drinking and getting drunk just tends to happen. I wish it didn't but it's something of a habit now.
I initially tried to go for the human biscuits but the helpers were having none of it, stressing that the gravy bones were for me. It was fun being licked by the dog though so I may have to repeat the experience.
I've run out of image space, I need to get a server or something I think.
I could ask Adia to get on LJ, but I am not sure she has the time. I'll ask her and find out ^^