The Sun is back....

I felt a little like a Hollywood Star on Friday when The Square was inundated by crowds of very smart young Ladies and Gentlemen, who all gathered under my office window. (That's me at the window above the word "Lion")

They were apparently all heading off for their school prom in Cardiff and destined to have a very enjoyable evening, after adding a little bit of "Sparkle" to The Square...

The Sun came back with a vengeance on Saturday and we had lots of boys and girls playing in the garden enjoying the sunshine and playing with Maggi and Me.

Julie has been very busy organising lots of parties for the new function room which opens next week and has lots of bookings already. We are also having a Grand Opening Party on 25th July - Barn Dance with Crimes Against Folk. Dana who runs Sessions music across the square is also going to be using it to teach music lessons and has promised to let James sit at the back so that he can get a few tips for his Mandolin.

There is also going to be a great big picnic in The Square on 19th July, organised by the Council, but I overheard the kitchen staff saying that they are going to be putting the barbeque out at the front of the pub to feed all those that forget their sandwiches - I can't wait!

Home on Visit

Jack & Beryl were going out for the day today so I came home yesterday for a day or so, but Julie seems to be trying her hardest not to leave me alone with Maggie for too long!

I managed to upgrade myself whilst away from the kitchen to the bedroom. There was a little resistance at first, but I eventually convinced them that it was for the best.

Whilst in the bedroom at the pub this morning we were all awoken by an almighty crash and then the sounds of Doris howling. She had been locked out, but the boiler men who have been working in the loft had left the sky lights open so Doris, determined to get in climbed on to the roof and came in the skylights, although judging by the crash and the howls she must have misjudged the drop - Stupid Cat!

I was surprised to see that my friends who went off on the Lions Tour were still not home when I got back. Apparently they have been swimming with sharks and even appeared on the News at Ten. Julie's keen for Chino to come home as she has found some baby pups just like me and she thinks that he may want one. I know for a fact the Karen won't be happy as she loves having me and Maggie to stay. They had a dog like me called Bobby and they still miss him, but they have lots of pictures of him up in their house which I like to look at when I visit.

I'm off to get my breakfast now....

Au Revoir!

I was a little suspicious yesterday when I was given a bath, but having now caught Julie packing my bag and my bed it is apparent that I am being banished from the pub for the forseeable future.

It's something to do with Maggie, and James "Not wanting any more Bloody Animals!"

Anyway I'm off to stay with Julie's Mum & Dad (Beryl & Jack) who will hopefully spoil me rotten. There was a small debate about whether or not it should be me or Maggie that goes, but for some reason Jack & Beryl refused to even contemplate the idea of Maggie staying!

The picture attached is nothing to do with me....

Apologies for being a little slack...

We have had a lovely weekend at the pub, spoilt only by the constant trickle of snide remarks regarding the lack of attention to my blog.... I hadn't appreciated quite how many people were relying on me for their gossip - and in any case, I'm just so busy guarding the property.

The British Lions Tour... We managed to see the boys off on their trip to South Africa in style on Wednesday. As they were off to follow the Lions Tour, Jon (my personal chef) purchased some rather fine Impala & Springbok sausages and laid on a great-smelling brunch for them all before they left. However, as we've come to expect from the calibre of customers in the public bar, the day started off with a slight problem. They were all using my computer in the bar to check themselves in for their flight before they left, just to make sure they could all sit together - (given the fact that Jon had spiced up their Beans, perhaps wasn't to be recommendedwhen) Anyway, "Snelly" went up to the bar to check in and went to enter his passport number (and was looking for it on his passport!) when he realised that the passport couldn't be his and he had somehow arrived at the pub with his daughter's passport... calamity ! After taking the necessary stick from the rest of the group, he hopped on the back of James' motorbike to go and collect his own passport. (Deb managed to get a pretty good photo of him complete with a really girlie looking helmet on - which I promise to share with you when she lets me have a copy.)

My good friend Chino also went to South Africa, but he flew out in style the following day. Maggie and I will miss him and Karen (Karen has gone away with the wives of all the other boys to Egypt - they're a bit too fond of cats in Egypt for my liking!)

They all missed the fun today. We had a change to the usual Sunday night music and if I may say so I much preferred it as they didn't have any loud speakers! The guys that came to visit were "The H Club" and they were part of a male voice choir, but not quite so serious and lots of fun. Well everyone seemed to really enjoy them and Julie & James have said that they are coming back again later in the year, which is always a good sign. I did try and get in on the act as you can see from the pic above but for some reason they didn't think I hit the right note.


James and Julie have been very busy in the function room this weekend, clearing up after the workmen (we are in the process of having some state of the art, high tech, computerised heating system put in which James is really excited about because he will be able to see how much it's costing him by the minute via the internet - I can see it being a cold winter!). The function room is beginning to look like a party room but they have this hair brained idea of turning it into a "barn" and the letting room (which is also taking shape) into a "hay loft". Given the fact that for the past week I have had to share my bedroom with 30 duck eggs that have required constant turning, I wouldn't be surprised if they move a herd of sheep into the room once it's finished.

Crimes Against Folk at the Golden Lion

The boys are back.....Julie & James have asked me to tell all my readers....

It's been a busy week for me this week, mainly because of the good weather. After our trip to Llangorse lake, there were lots of people hanging around the pub garden on Wednesday & Thursday - probably all wanting to know that we're OK after the swim in unknown waters... ! On Thursday my human half sister came to visit from Scotland. (where all our ancestors come from). Her name in Mhairi (pronounced Vaaree) and she spent most of the week-end repeating her name and explaining that it was Gaelic for Mary. The humans around here didn't understand it because they'd never heard it before. Gaelic names are very common-place in our home-land and they can usually be translated into English. My name - Hamish - is actually the Gaelic word for James, so I'm named after my dad.

Maggie enjoyed having another girl about and watched everything that was going on from close quarters. She tried to steal Mhairi's bed and Mhairi had to keep her door closed to keep Maggie at bay. Maggie also tried her hand at make up (like all little sisters do) but gave up after a very short time and just chewed the end of a wooden brush that the human girls call a blusher brush. I don't think Mhairi was too impressed to have her brush chewed, but in Maggie's defence, I bet it tasted good.

As far as sisters go, Mhairi is OK but doesn't play with me as much as Maggie does. She was more interested in learning to be a bar maid. She seemed to be quiet popular with the customers because she is always bearing her teeth... Sometimes, I don't get it, If I bear my teeth, humans think I'm nasty and threatening. If humans bear their teeth, they are happy. Why can't the humans not just wag their tails like us... it would make everything simple.

The weather turned really horrible on Friday and the ground got very wet. We don't goout much when its wet because everyone says we stink when we're wet and no-one likes the smell of Wet Dog.


It's Sunday today and I guess we'll see the usual crowd of people coming into the restaurant for their Sunday dinner. It's always so busy and they all like gravy.... and I can see why - it's tasty and before the end of the day, Maggie and I will get some left overs from somewhere. Yum !

Mhairi goes home later today, so it's back to normal tonight and the resident folk band are back to make lots of noise and keep me awake. You can see pictures of them on the Golden Lion's web site and there are links to their web site too, where you can hear them play music. You don't need to be a dog to have a web site you know.

Titanic 2

James & Julie took a day off yesterday and took Maggie and me to Llangorse Lake in the Brecon Beacons. There were lots of new and interesting smells and we even had our own picnic.

We saw lots of swans end even baby swans and I knew that the man swan would get me if I got too close but Maggie just didn't get the message.

After our picnic james went and got some big wooden poles and we got into a boat. It was very wobbly to start with and we had to hold on tight and Julie kept us both on a lead, which suited me just fine. When we got to the middle of the lake James thought that we were brave enough to be let off the lead and assured all of us that "the only way those dogs are going in the water is if I throw them in" so Julie relented. I stayed very still, but Maggie commando crawled under James and made it to the pointy end behind him where she stuck her head over the front like the lady in Titanic.
Julie and I knew that she was going in but James just kept making the boat go faster. Then there was a big splash and no Maggie, who was right under the boat. She eventually bobbed up and James dragged her out by her collar, getting us all very wet in the process and to make matters worse she then dived on Julie for a cuddle to get over the shock.

Feeling the Heat

I'm not liking this hot weather very much and am even tempted to ask Bob for a haircut like Keith's.....