Here comes the rain again

Well, the recent run of fine weather has ended and it's been chucking it down for most of the day. The sun peeked out briefly at about half past five so I took Barney out for a quick walk and took a couple of pictures.

I keep Barney on the lead pretty much all of the time - it's an extending one, and I can reel him in like a fish when I spot another dog coming. Most other people seem to let their dogs roam free without worrying about the consequences. Milo, the crossbreed that lives in the house opposite the playground escaped from his garden twice yesterday and followed us most of the way home. Today we met a little beagle puppy in the woods that came sniffing round and then chased us across the field all the way to our gate, blithely ignoring its owner's plaintive calls. Very cute, but certainly not most excellent.

When I left the office last night the security guard had rigged up a little portable tv and had changed out of his crypto-fascist uniform into an England shirt to watch the game. The house next door has more banners and flags than a BNP rally and wearing flags as ponchos seems to be de regeur for the denizens of the pub down the road.

This weird flag fetish seems to be perfectly socially acceptable and yet if somebody puts on a pair of elf ears or a klingon costume to go to a sf convention it's all "Har! Har! Look at the sad geeks that need to dress up to have fun!".