During last weekend, Lister slept whilst the gift shop was open, modelling Richard's old Led Zep t-shirt as he was freaked out by the plastic cone!
Last weekend, we had a brilliant time at the Foxton Locks Annual Festival. Thank you to everyone who came to see us and hope to see you again! Mother and Father in law Chamberlain came over during the afternoon to visit and helped in the gift shop, which was lovely, thank you Veronica and Sam!
Lister returning back to the boat after his second operation, complete with new invention inflatable neck collar!
Unfortunately, we closed the shop at 4pm, whilst there were still hoards of people about, because we realised that Lister's stitches had suddenly all popped open, revealing the original wound! Richard zoomed to the emergency out of hours vet, an hour away in Northampton, whilst Sam and Veronica helped me close up.
A couple of hours later, Richard returned with Lister wearing a bandage, covering his open wound and some instructions to visit our vet in the morning. This he did, also an hour away (good job we had the car) and returned later in the morning to say that Lister had developed an infection, swelling the wound and popping the stitches, which is common with dog bite injuries.
Newly stitched and strict bed rest again, bless him!
About 2 hours after Richard had returned, we got a call to collect Lister! All the way back again! We had hoped the vet would keep him in over night, but I suppose they don't want the responsibility. I went with Richard this time and collected a very dopey lurcher, lifting him in and out of the car, and then a slow walk back to the boat.
What a week! Everyone has a much needed kip after a week doing work in and on the boats!
The owners of the Rhodesian Ridgeback cross which attacked Lister getting on for 2 weeks ago now, contacted us last weekend after I had asked for all their contact details, informing us that they were devastated about what had happened. They, apparently, were aware their 'rescue' dog had issues with other dogs and had been attending training classes, but after what happened to our dog, they had had the animal put down. To us, that means that the attack was a complete neglect of responsible dog ownership, because they should have known it would need muzzling. Now because of their stupidity, they have lost their dog as well!
Back to the vets on Monday for a checkup for Lister, but probably a few more to come!
All week, I have been painting to replace items I have sold over the past 2 weekends - small milk churn
On a different tack, I was approached by Richard Parry, Chief Executive for the Canal and River Trust, whilst the shop was open last Sunday and had a good 10 minute chat with him.
Mr Richard Parry, CEO, CaRT (photo LinkedIn)
He asked if I was happy as a trader and wanted feedback on our experiences regarding licensing and support required and given from Canal and River Trust. I did raise a couple of points, as in our opinion, things have been lacking in this area distinctly! I asked for contact, perhaps by email, to be sent out to traders on new legislation and items of interest, to keep us abreast of everything and stop all the guess work. He seemed genuinely surprised that we had NEVER received any documentation of any kind about trading, from the licensing team to support us in our new venture. Hopefully, this will trickle down and information will be forthcoming in the future. After all, we are the 'new' traders on the canal, keeping it alive, just like the cargo carriers many years before.
