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It has been far too

dawn2025

Where do the hours go?


How is it that the weeks fly by?


One month rolls into another, and it is nearly Christmas. 🎄


How on earth did 2023 disappear so quickly?


It doesn’t seem 2 minutes since we were planning our Australia trip, then we were home to a busy summer of shows, pups, judging, training, and on we go…


With all the busyness of 2023, I have come to accept that I can only write my blog when I have absolutely nothing else to do.


At this moment, I am sat in an airport.


Yes, off on another trip. This time to see friends in Inverness. Whilst I can sit and do nothing for now, soon we will be boarding our plane and flying to Edinburgh.


We overnight in Edinburgh. Ride the train to Inverness, over night with friends, then train, plane, then home.


A younger me would have arrived off our flight at 10pm, changed, and been out partying all night… New town, new party!


At the grand age of 50 years young, the thought of partying all night is reserved for memories. Memories that make me smile, that remind me of the adundance of energy our bodies had when they were so young. How on earth did I party all night and get up and go to a show the very next day…? How indeed. Now, an early morning show requires planning. Spontaneity is reserved for choosing flavours of ice cream and not suddenly spending a night on the tiles…


One night in the most wonderful city of Edinburgh is followed by an eagerly anticipated train ride from Edinburgh to Inverness. I am rather excited to witness the scenery…


From my limited google research,  tomorrow’s journey should be good as the scenery is spectacular. I can’t wait.


We overnight with friends and return homeward bound on Monday. If travel times work to plan, we may have sufficient time to visit a friend in Edinburgh, fingers crossed!


We shall return home on Monday evening all the more enriched from a weekend of flights, trains, hotels and spending time with friends and of course dogs and pups too!


We have just taken off from Birmingham airport, and my ears need to pop. The drinks trolley is making its way towards us but as we are in the very cheap seats, almost out on the wing, we may not have the joy of caffiene until our hotel later, much later tonight.


The arrangements for travelling were made about 3 weeks ago, that’s as spontaneous as it gets when your house is full of four-legged friends. First, I had to tentatively check with our hosts to ensure they could accommodate our visit on the chosen dates. Simultaneously,  enquiring with various dog sitters required to be in place enabling my absence for the weekend.


It’s not just a matter of me saying, “I am out of here, see you in three days.” This weekend, there was a total of 8 wonderful other people who were inconvenienced in some way or another just so I can be away and have fun. To them, I am immensely and eternally grateful.


The chaos or I should call it the planning for this weekend, went something like this…


I was booked onto a training day in Stratford (about 1 hour east of home) on Saturday and attending said day with a close friend who lives some 20 miles north of me, not that far from the aiport…


The original plan was to meet at another friends house, who is about halfway between us, leave a car there, and toddle off for training together in 1 car.


Planning the trip to Inverness on Sunday meant flying on Saturday night.  My training friend was happy (well, she agreed) to drop me at the airport on her way home after our days training.But that left me with the issue of getting to meet her in the morning.


Chris said he would take me, but then we realised he was in Manchester overnight. That left me stranded…


I asked for a quote from a local taxi firm, and they said £50… I would have paid £20 but £50 was not going to depart my purse for a journey of 20 mins. My flight to Edinburgh, some 250 miles (ish), was only £59!


I rang the only local person I know that is always up early, is reasonably sociable, and might not mind taking me to a meeting place at half 7 in the morning. He was away! But he nominated his son!


All was well, said son, turned up early in a car free from dog hair, such a novelty!


And we chatted our way to the meeting point while reaping the benefits of a heated seat. Said son had described it as feeling like you had wet yourself. This gave me much amusement.


I was collected by training friend and an interesting days training was undertaken.


The day finished earlier than anticipated so off to the airport we went. Training friend was concerned that I would be alone in the airport with nothing to do.


Nothing to do.


When life is truly very busy and every day this week and last, and the one before has been filled with dogs, friends, various activities, meals out, theatre trips, and office work. The thought of having a few unexpected hours of nothingness became very exciting!


The reality was even more wholesome.


I found a chair to sit and wait.Oh, I don’t think I mentioned that I was meeting a travel companion at 5pm. I arrived at 3.30 pm. With nothing to do, I sat. I people watched. I did N O T H I N G. But of course, doing nothing is ultimately doing something. But this something was just being sat, and having the opportunity to sit still was one I greatly relished.


5pm quickly arrived, and it wasn’t long before we were on board our plane to Edinburgh.


We settle into the flight, and quick as you like, we are landing, just over an hour Birmingham to Edinburgh. How much joy would it be if we could fly the dogs to shows in Edinburgh. Costs wise, I think it would work out roughly the same.


Imagine rows of Cairns, Norwich, and a Griffon, all lined up on best behaviour.


What a joyous sight!


We stayed in Edinburgh’s West End, a short walk from Haymarket, and the train station of departure on Sunday morning.





The Crescents you see above look entertaining on the map. They are victorian townhouses of great design, and google tells me, much sought after. We walked from Haymarket up to the hotel, cheap and cheerful for one night!


Sunday morning, saw us at breakfast bright and early. A

full english, of course! Or is it a full scottish as we were in Scotland…


We ate and then made our way back to the station to board the train to Inverness.


We walked past St. Marys cathedral and marvelled as it stood tall and proud.


We were hoping for spectacular views as we departed Edinburgh… what we saw was…


Oh, the fog cleared, and thankfully, we saw some beautiful scenery …



Beauty... such natural beauty!


We were very lucky to be accompanied by the sunshine all the way to Inverness, simply beautiful 😍


We overnighted with friends, enjoyed fabulous food, great company and played with pups until late.


Our train back home was just before 9am, so we had a quick breakfast, left the pups behind, and trundled off to the train station.


It rained all the way back. The scenery was very different, still holding its magnificence but so much more dramatic 🙄


We arrived at a rain free Edinburgh and shopped our way along Princes Street, finally catching the tram back to the airport.


Princes Street enables what I think is one of the best views of a city anywhere in the world, that of Edinburgh Castle. It is breathtaking.


This is not my photo, but isn’t it majestic 😍

Now onboard the plane returning to Birmingham, another trip is coming to an end.


The other half is collecting us from the airport and it’s my turn to cook supper!


That particular task will result in yet another google search to see which pub is on the way home and does a good steak…

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Kennel Carradine & Dawn Carradine Inett
Email: kennelcarradine@outlook.com

Licenced by Wychavon District Council to Breed Dogs with a 5 Star Licence
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