I have said a number of times since starting my PAD that it’s about the story – a narrative of my world. Although most of the day was spent in drudgery, working, we have, for the second day in a row, taken the dogs on an exciting jaunt in the evening. Yesterday we went to Looe and romped on Hannafore beach with Alan, Dee, Lucy, Alice and Maddie (followed by a lovely celebration of the result of my degree). Today our romp was on the moor and culminated in supper at the village pub.

We set off from home at 6pm, after a long day’s work, without much thought about what would happen next and I suddenly realised we were 45 mins from home, it was 7pm and I’d got no plan for a meal so we decided to spend a tiny windfall that came our way on Friday on a couple of plates of egg and chips for us, a bag of pork scratchings and some special Marcia (pub landlady) biscuits for the dogs and a couple of pints of Doom Bar.

Here we all are, sat outside (yes, outside…we know it’s rarely possible so when it is, it has to be taken advantage of), JD behaving immaculately, sat in the best doggie pose he could muster, Lola behaving like a naughty child (see her muddy legs?), Doom Bar and pork scratchings on the table. It’s amazing how much power you can have over a dog with a packet of pork scratchings in your hand. Ours have been trained in “good pub dog behaviour” – they know that if they are good, don’t bark or jump up at anyone then they will get fed pork scratchings periodically and this is all good.

It’s a far cry from our first outing to the pub with JD, when he was so frightened he tried to climb behind the cigarette machine! He’s grown so much in confidence and stature since then that he’s almost unrecognisable.

So, the key to the photo is that it is a representative part of our day and the fact that there were better photos that didn’t tell the story of the day is irrelevant.

I know that pork scratchings are peculiarly British so for anyone not from these shores, think pork rind, deep fried and salted then bagged into the sort of bag you’d buy crisps (chips) in! They are apparently a fabulous treat to be enjoyed with a pint, although as two vegetarians we don’t indulge ourselves, but we discovered years ago that dogs too think they are excellent!